Space programs have spent decades figuring out how terrestrial activities would work outside of earth’s atmosphere. Will plants grow? Do muscles atrophy? Will astronauts ever be able to do laundry? A less-researched but no less important question: Could you fire a gun in space and has anyone ever tried? Guns don’t require oxygen to fire because they already have an oxidizing agent in the sealed ammunition cartridge that can ignite the gunpowder. Gravity is also not necessary to chamber a bullet because a spring forces that. It’s actually environmental factors that might prevent a space shooting. Extreme temperatures could cause the weapon to overheat and malfunction. If the weapon gets too cold, the firing cap primer might go off. Metal gun parts could lose their structural integrity, leading to jamming. Suppose those problems are resolved. If a gun can successfully fire, what would happen to the bullet? If it’s not hitting a target, the shooter may never find out. On earth, a bullet that doesn't strike a target will eventually be pushed down by gravity. Depending on the caliber and environmental factors, it could travel for well over a mile. Because space lacks gravity and its drag, however, there’s nothing stopping the bullet from traveling indefinitely, or at least until it makes contact with a surface. In the 1970s, amid the Cold War, Russia was concerned that their satellites might be targeted by foreign adversaries. In 1975, they equipped the Salyut-3 space station with a R-23M rapid-fire cannon and scheduled a test shoot as the station was de-orbiting and after departure of the crew. Reportedly, the weapon fired 20 shells in total that burned up in the atmosphere. It remains the only known weapon ever discharged in space.
