A Russian television show called Voennaya Priemka revealed one of the best kept secrets of the former Soviet Union: a space cannon built for the Almaz space station back in the 1970s. What is even more interesting is that it was reportedly fired in orbit in what appears to be the world's first space weapon test.
The space cannon, which is called R-23M, is a 23-millimeter weapon based on the R-23 gun designed by Aron Rikhter. It was originally mounted in the tail of the Soviet Tu-22 Blinder supersonic bomber. The cannon was shuttled and installed in space within an elaborate process to ensure that it remained cloaked in secrecy. This was important because space is a weapons-free zone and this is guaranteed by the United Nations Outer Space Treaty, of which the Soviet Union was a signatory, accoring to Popular Science.
The test firing occured on Jan. 24, 1975, according to Popular Mechanics. It was scheduled to coincide with the deorbiting of the Soviet space station Salyut-3. The station ignited its jet thrusters in order to counter the cannon's recoil. There were about two or three blasts, consuming around 20 shells, reported Popular Mechanics. The result of the test remains classified to this day.
The photograph below is a computer render of the space cannon based on the video footage shown on the Voennaya Priemka TV show.
