Space When the Soviet put a cannon on their space station

[AAR Galileo]

It's a story that few people know about, but in 1974-75, the soviet tested a canon to defend their space station in orbit.
They launch Saliout 3 equipped with a 23mm canon (see photo) and tested it in space. The model was a R-23M.
they fired around 50 shots to test the canon and the thrusters that compensated the recoil of the canon.

More info :
https://www.popularmechanics.com/mi...ere-is-the-soviet-unions-secret-space-cannon/

 

[Herc15]

it says in the article that they opted for missiles in the end. how would that work considering there is no oxygen for the rocket motors?

 

[droopy]

There is no oxygen for the gun powder that proppels the 23mm rounds. Same thing with the missiles, they use stuff that dose not require O2 to ignite and burn.