# Did the Apollo 11 astronauts carry weapons? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086 "2004-02-08T04:47:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![herman\_and\_bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f1d935/32.png) [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/21 "2004-02-08T19:23:45Z")
> [@Soup](#): > > There WAS? In 1969? > So while Buzz Aldrin is grappling with a moon monster, he calls in his coordinates to Mission Control in Houston, and they fire a laser across the void like an interplanetary gunslinger and pick off the alien punk? Nice shootin’, Tex! 😃 > > Upon further thought, I’m guessing that the astronaut’s defense plan (if any existed) involved running back to the lunar module and blasting off for home. Hey Neil, watch this! I should of put a [cite](http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/Apollo11/A11_Experiments_LRRR.html) in my post. I don’t think they could just blast off, they had to wait till the mother ship was coming around so they could meet up. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/22 "2004-02-08T19:40:20Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > rock monsters “Look for any weak spots!” “It’s a ROCK! It doesn’t have any weak spots!” –_Galaxy Quest_😃 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/23 "2004-02-08T20:46:07Z")
> [@GMRyujin](#): > > “Look for any weak spots!” > “It’s a ROCK! It doesn’t have any weak spots!” > –_Galaxy Quest_😃 “Maybe you could craft a rudimentary lathe!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/24 "2004-02-08T22:36:42Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I think the only gun ever launched to and tested in space was the 23mm cannon on the [Almaz](http://www.astronautix.com/craft/almazops.htm) space station. That’s for defending the station against Americans, not space aliens. [Polyus](http://www.astronautix.com/craft/polyus.htm) _may_ have had a working cannon onboard, but it failed to acheive orbit. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/25 "2004-02-08T23:59:13Z")
In Tom Hanks’ serial From the Earth to the Moon, there was a possibly-invented scene of the astronauts chatting with Armstrong about his first words. My favorite suggestion was “If you had any balls, you’d say ‘My God, what \*is \* that thing?’, scream, and cut your mike”. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/26 "2004-02-09T04:19:48Z")
> [@herman\_and\_bill](#): > > there was an earth based laser that could be used to protect the moon walkers Just on the off chance that I’m not being wooshed 🙂 - The lasers used with the Apollo reflectors are to accurately measure distance, not to zap hostile aliens. As quoted on the page you referenced, the beam had spread to seven kilometers (4.35 miles) in diameter by the time it reached the moon. That’s over 9500 acres. Someone standing on the moon wouldn’t even be able to see or feel the beam, let alone be injured by it… ---
**Author:** ![Grumple\_Grommit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9fc348/32.png) [@Grumple\_Grommit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumple_Grommit)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/27 "2004-02-09T07:38:45Z")
> [@AndrewL](#): > > None whatsoever. Astronauts have never carried suicide pills. How do you know? ---
**Author:** ![Achilles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dc4da7/32.png) [@Achilles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achilles)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/28 "2004-02-09T11:25:05Z")
> [@Grumple Grommit](#): > > How do you know? Thus sounds the bell to mark the end of the discussion… ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/29 "2004-02-09T11:43:52Z")
On the suicide pill thing–why would they even need to carry them? If it ever hits that “in case” they’re floating up in pretty hard vacuum–all they’d have to do is cycle through an airlock without a suit, or similarly pull a Major Tom. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/30 "2004-02-09T12:25:19Z")
> [@Drastic](#): > > or similarly pull a Major Tom. What, form a rock group called Tin Machine? Wouldn’t that just be _professional_ suicide, not yer actual suicide? And it might take more time than they had available; picking who got to be the lead guitarist etc? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/31 "2004-02-09T13:04:49Z")
Although they’re otherwise pretty good science fiction films, I think it’s hilarious that **Robinson Crusoe on Mars** has titular hero Paul Mantee with a gun on Mars, and **It! The Terror from Beyond Space** shows the crew with not only guns, but grenades as well. (They also smoke in the space ship, and never secure _anything_, even during takeoff.) Of course, in this movie they _do_ encounter a giant person-killing whatsit, so you could argue that there really _is_ a justification for carrying arms. But they didn’t really know it until the second expedition to Mars. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/32 "2004-02-09T17:24:19Z")
> [@GreyWanderer](#): > > In the movie [Armageddon](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120591/) they brought guns with them for some reason. I could never figure out why. IIRC, the Criterion Collection version ( :rolleyes: ) of the movie includes commentary in which somebody says that miniguns were added to the rovers to help facilitate the sale of spin-off toys. Also, what kind of problems would have to be overcome for a space station to fire an onboard cannon? ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/33 "2004-02-09T19:57:03Z")
Would ordinary earth guns even work in the Lunar atmosphere? What would happen if you tried to fire an unmodified shotgun on the moon? What modifications would be required? (I can remember the return of the first astronauts from the moon. There was real concern over the danger of hostile aliens–microbes, I mean–and there was indeed a nerve-wracking quarantine period.) ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de053/32.png) [@Umbriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/34 "2004-02-09T20:56:14Z")
I recall seeing the survival kit at the Smithsonian referenced by **davidm** , and being taken aback by the fact that it contained fishing hooks and line, until I realised that it was for survival on _Earth_… I don’t recall any firearms, which I think would have made more of an impression, though I’m pretty sure some sort of utility knife was present. If we had ever carried an eqivalent to the “Soyuz shotgun”, it would likely have been the Air Force’s [AR-7 Survival Rifle](http://www.henryrepeating.com/survival.cfm) (best known for its appearance as the “sniper rifle” in Bond’s attache case in _From Russia With Love_. Link is to the site of current manufacturer Henry Repeating Arms). Our water-landing recovery mode, however, presumably made fish hooks a more practical survival tool than rifles. Re **Humble Servant** ’s query, any metallic cartridge firing weapon should be able to fire in a vacuum. Primer and propellant are all self-contained within the sealed cartridge. The only problem with firing weapons underwater, by way of comparison, is that a barrel full of water will cause the chamber to burst just as surely as packing the barrel with dirt. I believe I’ve seen reference to special “swimmers’ pistols” which presumably have sealed barrels, but that wouldn’t be necessary for operation in a vacuum, and I’ve digressed already. Contrary to **scr4** ’s comment, the _astronautix_ link indicates that the cannon on the Almaz station was intended, and successfully tested, for use as an anti-satellite weapon, not to repel boarders. In answer to **Adam Yax** ’s question, the primary issues to be addressed in using a cannon, or any other gun, in space would relate to extremes in temperature. Temperature extremes could make metal parts brittle and vulnerable to breakage, cause them to jam due to thermal expansion or contraction, render springs and other delicate mechanisms inoperable, etc. Also, liquid lubricants might vaporize in vacuum, further increasing the risk of jamming. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/35 "2004-02-09T20:59:47Z")
An unmodified shotgun should work fine on the Moon, or anywhere else they’re a vacume. Gunpowder doesn’t require any outside oxygen to burn, and the cartridge is sealed airtight anyway. The one danger I can see for a gun being fired in a vacume is overheating. With no atmosphere to help cool the barrel, something like the minigun in Armageddon would overheat a lot more easily than if it was being fired on earth. IIRC, the one Russian space station to carry a gun had a rocket which would fire at the same time as the gun, to offset the force of the gun’s recoil. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de053/32.png) [@Umbriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/36 "2004-02-09T21:21:26Z")
My last post should have read “not _just_ to repel boarders”, though I wonder just how fearful of a _You Only Live Twice_ scenario the Soviets were. **AndrewL** ’s post mentioned the recoil issue. While that’s an important consideration for a cannon firing off a space platform in free orbit, I don’t believe it would be for astronauts firing small arms on the moon. While the moon’s gravity is 1/6th Earth’s, the firer’s mass wouldn’t be diminished. The recoil would thus feel no greater, though the firer might have to take a little more care to keep his footing in low gravity. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/37 "2004-02-09T21:39:29Z")
Re: The recoil of the Almaz cannon—I seem to recall that the station had a specially designed RCS system designed to compensate for the cannon’s recoil. ---
**Author:** ![ForgottenLore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@ForgottenLore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForgottenLore)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/38 "2004-02-09T22:46:00Z")
> [@](#): > > How do you know? Gemini and Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell stated quite clearly in his book _Lost Moon_: The astronauts did not carry suicide pills. His take on it was that it would have been redundant to do so. If he were marooned in space and faced with the certainty of a slow painful death, all he’d have to do to commit suicide quickly would be open the hatch. ---
**Author:** ![epl442](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@epl442](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epl442)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/39 "2010-09-03T12:33:32Z")
> [@Soup](#): > > [QUOTE=RickJay] > If there had been some aliens on the Moon, they either would have been aliens from another solar system or some form of rock monsters. If they were aliens from another solar system I would have to think their level of technology would make a .38 a useless weapon. And if they were rock monsters, well, the bullets would have just bounced off. So no, they didn’t carry frickin’ GUNS. How about regular guns? 😉 I know it sounds silly, but think about it for a moment. This was the first time humans were to set foot on another world. Sure, it was a world that had been studied enough, albeit remotely, to ensure that the astronauts wouldn’t encounter little green men. But don’t you think that during some NASA brainstorming session that the possiblilty that SOMETHING might be up there came up? Hey, it’s an alien world, maybe there WAS some silicone-based “rock monster” life up there. Or, if we managed to get a rocket up there, who’s to say there wasn’t some other visitors that got there first? 16th- and 17th- century explorers here on Earth came across creatures they never dreamed about. We’re still finding some today (like the giant worms surrounding thermal vents deep below the ocean’s surface). I guess, due to weight and space considerations, astronauts can’t be prepared for such an unlikely contingency as an angry alien big enough to actually harm them. And what would one bring anyway? As RickJay points out, a gun would be useless. How about a set of brass knuckles big enough to fit over an astronauts glove? 😛 [/QUOTE] THis is why we didnt go to the moon,the average american wont go to the offy without a pistol in hios pants+a 12 bore on the back seat.You really think theyd send the worlds best tech all that way with no weaps? The plans for apollo wrere released years ago but there are 2 compartments still classified & listed as shelves or storage-one was for cyanide & other means of takin ones own life & the other may well have been a crossbow type weapon.The space shuttle on the other hand does have classified weapons.it carrys a diamond laser,a maser cannon & is rumoured to be testing the plasma cannon in conjunction with the new aurora -the replacement for strealth & capable of sub orbital flight.Along with pulse detonation.Which was originally designed as an engine but has interesting properties as a silent weapon-which the shuttle also can deploy in satellite form,like emp burst modules. What we have now is all from tech collected from 1948 onward -1948 being the year the actual microchip was discovered -there is no way on gods green earth we went to the moon in 69 in what amounts to a sinclair zx spectrum & a nissan micra! we cant go there NOW -so there is no way we went then-if we cant go now,it follows we never went as it is so risky sending men when there are a dozen critical manouvres that need to be calculated to the micro level.The moon fotos have prooved to be easily replicable (even a tv show mythbusters did it-this is how easy this is 2 replicate) No one ever questions the camera on arnstrong when he went down the ladder-according to nasa the camera couldnt pan to get him-so someone must have gone out 1st +positioned it (also it should have been covered in dust were it panned thus)or perhaps they did it on a film set…😕 why does armstrong refuse to speak,why has aldrin several times threatened to? id love it to be true but like santa claus it simply has 2 many holes in its story line,never happened+still cant happen as we can only just survive the outer atmosphere & that costs trillions to maintain.sorry just dint happen 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/40 "2010-09-03T13:02:39Z")
I’m so glad I have a coupon for popcorn. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086.md?page=3)