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Shchit-2 was a Soviet-era missile created to protect the Almaz military space stations from foreign threats.
An example of the missile is currently displayed in a restricted area at NPO Mashinostroyenia, a rocket design bureau based in Reutov, Russia, alongside an earlier version - called the Shchit-1.
The Shchit-1 featured a 23mm cannon and is the only gun to ever be fired in space, reported The Drive, as far as public information suggests.
The Almaz programme was a hidden effort by the Soviets to weaponise their space station - which was just a civilian endeavour as far as the rest of the world was aware.
SpaceX launches its third astronaut crew, the first on a used Crew Dragon capsule
Four astronauts started a 23-hour trek to the International Space Station aboard a previously-flown Crew Dragon capsule
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Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
SpaceX launched its third crew of astronauts to the International Space Station early Friday morning, reusing a Crew Dragon space capsule to fly humans for the first time. The mission, dubbed Crew-2, is the latest flight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and will add four more astronauts to the orbital space station.
A used Falcon 9 rocket, last flown for SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission last year, lifted off at 5:49AM ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying Endeavor, the same Crew Dragon capsule that first launched SpaceX’s debut astronaut mission nearly one year ago. For this flight, the Endeavor capsule carried four astronauts from three different countries SpaceX’s most diverse NASA-managed crew yet.
By William Harwood
April 23, 2021 / 7:23 AM / CBS News
Lighting up the pre-dawn sky, a Falcon 9 rocket with a previously flown first stage roared to life and shot away up the East Coast early Friday, boosting a refurbished SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule into orbit carrying four astronauts on a day-long trip to the International Space Station.
Running 24 hours late because of threatening off-shore weather, the rocket s nine first stage engines ignited at 5:49 a.m. EDT, throttled up to a combined 1.7 million pounds of thrust and smoothly pushed the slender booster away from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
Strapped in four abreast, commander Shane Kimbrough, co-pilot Megan McArthur, Frenchman Thomas Pesquet and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, all space veterans making their first flights aboard a SpaceX capsule, monitored the automated ascent on large touch-screen displays.
SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, 4 astronauts lift off to space station By William Harwood
April 23, 2021 / 6:46 AM / CBS News
After a one-day delay, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Friday to boost a Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts into orbit for a one-day trip to the International Space Station.
Liftoff from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center occurred right on time at 5:49 a.m. EDT, setting up an automated rendezvous and docking at the space station early Saturday.
The SpaceX Crew-2 flight will mark only the third launch of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil since the space shuttle s retirement 10 years ago. It is the second operational flight under NASA s Commercial Crew Program and the first to use a previously-flown first stage booster and a refurbished Crew Dragon capsule making its second flight.