Space makes people look forward to and yearning. Sending astronauts into space represents the technological level of a country. Astronauts need to make various preparations before entering space, among which there are regulations for guns.
In fact, there is nothing to fuss about, not only Chinese astronauts equipped with guns, but also astronauts from countries such as the United States and Russia. Moreover, foreign astronauts’ guns are provided with three muzzles, the upper two ports are used to fire flares, and the lower port is used to fire ordinary pistol bullets. Many people might think when they see this place, are there really aliens in the universe who need astronauts to defend themselves with guns? Or are astronauts going to “hunt” in space?
To answer this question, let us first look at what happens when a gun is fired in space. Everyone knows that if there is no air in space, will it cause the gunpowder to fail to burn, the gun barrel cannot generate huge air pressure to form thrust, and then the firing pin cannot ignite the primer, so the bullet cannot be fired, causing the pistol to misfire? It is wrong to think this way, because when the bullet is made, the ammunition, cotton wool and air are sealed inside. When the firing pin hits the primer, it can also ignite the gunpowder in the shell and then shoot the warhead out.
In fact, the gun can not only fire in space, but the explosion effect is even more amazing. Experiments have shown that the initial velocity of the bullet flying in a vacuum is increased by 5%, and the power is greater. The reason for this effect is that the gunpowder gas ejected from the barrel is easier to expand under vacuum.
According to calculations, after shooting in an ideal state in space, the bullet will fly in a straight line. After about 10 million years, it will stop due to the superposition of weak resistance. In fact, a bullet cannot move in a straight line. Whether it hits the target or not, it will eventually deviate from its orbit under the gravitational force of a huge celestial body, and then enter the orbit of the celestial body and fly continuously, becoming space junk.
The astronaut who fired the gun was even more miserable. Because of the reaction force, the body would be pushed out in the opposite direction at the moment the bullet was fired. If the astronaut is not tied to the protective rope, then he may never come back to the vast universe.
Therefore, no astronaut is willing to shoot in space, and no one has met an alien so far. So what do astronauts do with guns? This is an emergency preparation for returning to the ground. In case, after landing, an astronaut falls into the primeval forest and meets ferocious beasts, he can protect himself with a pistol.
There was once such an example. A spacecraft in the Soviet Union did not reach the designated area when landing due to some kind of malfunction, but fell into a large forest in Siberia. At this time, the pistol can be used for self-defense, and it can also fire flares so that the search and rescue team can find themselves faster.
