During the Cold War, the Soviet Union secretly launched military space stations under the Almaz program, some even armed with a cannon designed to defend against hostile spacecraft. In 1975, one of ...

In the spring of 1967, a series of unusual sightings began to grip the ...

The most striking feature of the Almaz station was the 23mm Nudelman-Rikhter (NR-23) cannon, a modified aircraft gun adapted for use in the unforgiving vacuum of space. “This battle station is now ...

Designed for use in low-or-zero-gravity environments where conventional firearms would not work properly, this magazine-fed, pyrotechnic flashbulb technology generated a laser beam—with one variant ...

Originally published: Challenge to Apollo : the Soviet Union and the space race, 1945-1974. Washington, D.C. : National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2000. Presage -- First steps -- Stalin and ...

On February 22, 1966, two Soviet space dogs launched on a mission that would set a new record for the longest spaceflight. Veterok and Ugolyok, whose names translate to "Light Breeze" and "Coal" ...

In the 1970s, the Soviet Union quietly turned a “civilian” space station into a weapon, installing a rapid-fire cannon on Salyut 3 under the secret Almaz program. Decades later, declassified fragments ...

pt. I. Zero-gravity capitalists : 1988-1990. Knocking on the Soviet's door ; Perestroika in orbit ; Tricking state and NASA ; The world turns upside down ; The Mir really exists ; Aren't two routes ...