{"id":130330,"date":"2021-01-03T13:13:56","date_gmt":"2021-01-03T18:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=130330"},"modified":"2021-01-03T13:13:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T20:55:44","slug":"the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\/","title":{"rendered":"The Russian Rikhter-23M Kartech Autoloading Space Cannon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The
The Three Stooges<\/em> can be a fascinating metric to determine a person\u2019s basic personality traits. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You can deduce a great\ndeal about a person\u2019s character by asking who their favorite member of The\nThree Stooges <\/em>comedy troupe might be.<\/em> In my experience, women find The\nThree Stooges<\/em> to be uniformly ridiculous. Guys, by contrast, can prattle on\nfor ages regarding the Stooges\u2019 sundry nuances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Larry was always my favorite Stooge. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Curly Howard (Jerome\nHorwitz) was a clown pure and simple. Curly acolytes are typically fun-loving\nparty types. Curly\u2019s real-life brother Moe (Moses Horwitz) was a control freak.\nMoe fans can indeed be dominating and obnoxious. I myself gravitate more toward\nLarry (Louis Feinberg). Longsuffering and sincere, I always felt Larry was the\nThinking Man\u2019s stooge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Even debilitated and at the end of his life, Larry Fine still made time for his fans. This picture was taken about nine months before his death. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, January 24,\n1975, the world lost Larry Fine. Larry died of a stroke at age 72 in the Motion\nPicture Country House, a nursing home for aging actors in Woodland Hills,\nCalifornia. On the same day that Larry died, far above the earth\u2019s surface, the\nSoviet Union conducted humanity\u2019s first and last test of an orbital space\ncannon. The tale of how the species got to that point is simply fascinating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Details<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The Salyut space stations were launched into orbit via massive Russian Proton rockets. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The covert Soviet space station Salyut 3 was one of six launched into earth orbit between 1971 and 1986. Four were orbited as part of publicized scientific research efforts. Salyut 3 was one of two military reconnaissance stations that were part of the classified Almaz (\u201cDiamond\u201d) program. Two other Salyut stations were destroyed in launch accidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Almaz stations were armed orbital reconnaissance platforms. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of the half dozen\noperational Salyut vehicles, the Almaz stations were unique. These vehicles\nwere equipped with highly sophisticated photographic and electronic\neavesdropping systems. They also featured fearsome onboard counter-satellite\nweapons systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Rikhter R-23M Kartech autocannon was a fearsome weapon in the vacuum of space. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After 213 days in space\nthe Salyut 3 station, now unmanned, was in the process of an intentional\nde-orbit to bring it down safely over the ocean. Before the station was maneuvered\ninto the atmosphere to incinerate itself Russian engineers oriented the 40,000-pound\nspy station remotely, released the safety interlocks, and fired off a series of\nbursts from the station\u2019s integral Rikhter-23M 23mm automatic revolving cannon.\nThis represented the only example of an armed spacecraft unlimbering its weapon\nsystems in earth orbit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disco Star Wars<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"The
Fashion trends have evolved considerably since the 1970s. Not sure this flight attendant uniform would go over so well today. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 1970s was a fascinating decade. America was indelicately extricating itself from Vietnam, and the resulting social and cultural upheaval threatened to tear the country apart. Fashions were so utterly garish as to foment blindness if gazed upon unduly. NASA had made spaceflight and moon missions seem almost routine. Meanwhile, high tech space vehicles silently waged the Cold War high above in earth orbit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Putting men on the moon pretty much trumped every other aspect of the Space Race. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Space Race represented a breathtakingly expensive tit-for-tat wherein two disparate ideologies strived mightily to establish their ascendency. Communism and capitalism spent their best and brightest to earn orbital bragging rights. Sputnik sparked the war, but Apollo and its half dozen live moon missions was the decisive turning point. The US launched Skylab in May of 1973 and manned it for an aggregate of 24 weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Cold War saw simply breathtaking military spending on both sides. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This era was characterized\nby suspicion, animosity, duplicity, and subterfuge. These two major ideologies\nstared at each other over the sights of tens of thousands of Main Battle Tanks,\nmissile launchers, and combat aircraft. Both sides also viewed orbiting\nspacecraft as critical national assets and legitimate military targets. It was therefore\ninevitable that some thought might be invested in how best to weaponize such\nthings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Concept<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"The
Isaac Newton\u2019s Laws of Motion govern the way all things move and interact. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Space is a weird, terrifying, unforgiving place. In the absence of an atmosphere, the Physics get fairly surreal. Newton told us that every action creates an equal and opposite reaction. Any kid who has been conned into touching off a 12-gauge from the shoulder becomes intimately familiar with this particular component of Sir Isaac\u2019s immutable dicta. In the case of cannons on space stations, the recoil must be counteracted lest firing the gun render the platform uncontrollable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
A zero-G condition in earth orbit is more accurately described as a state of perpetually falling. The esteemed physicist Stephen Hawking once gave it a whirl. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Orbital spacecraft are not\ntechnically in neutral gravity as might be the case during an interplanetary\nMars mission. Astronauts in orbit are more accurately constantly falling around\nthe earth such that the force of gravity is counteracted by the track of the\nspacecraft. The end result is the same zero-G state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The cast of the movie Apollo 13<\/em> endured some 400 parabolic flights into weightlessness to film the movie. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Vomit Comet is the\ncolloquial term for a specially-modified aircraft designed to simulate\nweightlessness. NASA\u2019s most popular reduced-gravity aircraft were two converted\nKC-135 tankers that flew parabolic flight profiles. These maneuvers offered\nastronauts about 25 seconds of comparable perceived weightlessness in\nanticipation of actual space flight. One of these planes was used to film the\nweightless scenes in the movie Apollo 13.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Myrian technical problems had to be solved before Soviet engineers could fire a gas-operated autoloading cannon in space. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Soviet engineers were\ndesigning a defensive cannon system for their orbital space stations there were\nscads of otherworldly variables like these that had to be taken into account.\nGunpowder includes its own oxidizers so getting the rounds to light off in a\nvacuum was not a challenge. When fired in space without any air resistance the projectiles\nwould never decelerate and would theoretically continue ad infinitum until they\nencountered a gravity well or another physical object. The real technical\nchallenge, however, was always counteracting recoil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gun<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"The
In 1975, two years before the release of the first Star Wars<\/em> movie, the Russians bodged together their own version of the Death Star. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Russians purportedly settled on the 23mm Rikhter-23M\nKartech aircraft autocannon to arm their prickly orbital DIY Death Star. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The R-23M Kartech cannon was designed as armament for high-performance jet aircraft. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This gun was developed in the 1950s by Aron Rikhter as armament for high-performance jet aircraft. In an effort at minimizing drag at high Mach numbers, the gun was designed to be as short as possible. The R-23 still holds the record for the fastest-firing single-barrel production aircraft gun ever built. At its maximum cyclic rate, the R-23 fired at about 2,600 rounds per minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Ammunition for the R-23M was a telescoped design. Here you can see how the front edge of the case extends all the way to the tip of the projectile. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The R-23 was a fascinating design. The weapon\u2019s action\nconsisted of four revolving chambers driven by a gas-operated mechanism and fed\nbelted ammunition. Where most conventional guns load from the rear, the R-23 fed\nand loaded from the front. This made for some mighty weird-looking ammunition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The base of the R-23\u2019s case is tapered as is shown here. This allowed each round to be fed into the gun backwards from the front. The top bit shown here is the primer. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 200-gram 23mm high explosive rounds telescoped back\ninto a case that featured a tapered base without a conventional rim. Cases were\nformed from galvanized steel, and the rounds were electrically primed. A heavy\ncrimp held the HE projectile in place. The case ends at the tip of the\nprojectile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The R-23 saw active service as a tail gun in the Tu-22 Blinder strategic bomber. So help me this thing looks like some kind of freakish cartoon character. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Three separate gas systems drove the R-23 mechanism. One chambered a round, the second drove the revolving cylinder and feed mechanism, and the third ejected spent cases and links. This odd gun was mounted as tail armament in Tupelov Tu-22 strategic bombers. During terrestrial test firings, the gun purportedly penetrated an empty fuel drum at 1,600 meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Adapting the R-23M to a spacecraft demanded an entirely new mounting system. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This weird rotary design meant that there was no way to\nclear a stoppage. As a result, the R-23M included a pair of pyrotechnic charges\nthat could be remotely fired to penetrate the case wall of a defective round.\nThese small clearance charges would ignite the round\u2019s propellant and fire it\nmanually. The adaptation of the R-23M for use in space involved fabricating a\nunique mount and interfacing it all with the spacecraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Space Station<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"The
Salyut means \u201cSalute\u201d or \u201cFireworks.\u201d These manned orbital space stations were the first spacecraft designed for long-term habitation. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Salyut space station\nwas ostensibly designed for civilian research purposes. Published mission goals\nincluded research on the physiological and psychological effects of protracted\nexposure to weightlessness and space flight. The militarized Salyut stations,\nhowever, were intended solely as intelligence-gathering platforms. The primary\nconcern was that US assets might be maneuvering nearby to gain information on\nthe nature and capabilities of the station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Aiming the R-23M autocannon involved reorienting the entire 40,000-pound station. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If the Soviet crew\nperceived a viable threat and decided to employ the R-23 they would use the\nstation\u2019s positioning thrusters to orient the entire 20-ton habitat to aim the\nfixed gun. There was an optical sight mounted in the station that could be used\nfor this purpose. As the gun was to be fired in a vacuum range and bullet drop\ncould essentially be ignored. The rounds from the R-23 would go exactly where\nthey were pointed. The orbital gun\u2019s magazine held 32 rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bringing the Rain<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"The
These guys did not want to be anywhere close by when they touched this puppy off, so the gun was fired remotely. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nobody was completely\ncertain what would happen once you lit up this fast-firing autocannon in the\nemptiness of space. The vibration was expected to be apocalyptic. The test was\ntherefore conducted after the station\u2019s crew had departed for the last time and\njust before the vessel was intentionally de-orbited. When it was time to fire\nground controllers ignited the station\u2019s thrusters in a crude effort to\ncounteract recoil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
This is the Salyut 3 space station during assembly. Verifying the effectiveness of its cannon would be a difficult task. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Almaz program was heavily classified, and the details remain sketchy today. According to various sources, Salyut 3 fired 20 of its available 32 rounds over three test firings. The gun is rumored to have destroyed a target satellite during the test. However, such claims seem tough to verify as the station was unmanned at the time and in the process of destructive re-entry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The fraternity of humans who have left the earth\u2019s atmosphere is a fairly elite mob. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the history of manned spaceflight, some 550 human beings have ventured past the Karman Line, the accepted definition of extra-atmospheric operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
These three unfortunate cosmonauts are the only humans to have lost their lives in space. They asphyxiated when a valve failed and vented their capsule during reentry more than 100 miles above the earth. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of these 550, three\ncosmonauts, part of the Soyuz 11 mission, have died in space. Thankfully the\nCold War remained cold, and mankind did not devolve into an actual shooting war\nin the cold void of space. Had we done so, however, the Russians were ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The interior of the Salyut space stations was cramped and confining. Firing an automatic cannon in such an environment would be undoubtedly terrifying. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and mankind never actually went to war in space.   <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

     Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a><\/em><\/strong>      <\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday, January 24, 1975, far above the earth\u2019s surface, the Soviet Union conducted humanity\u2019s first and last test of an orbital space cannon. The tale of how the species got to that point is simply fascinating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":130341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,257,772],"tags":[132,102,752,636,1578],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-130330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gunsamerica-authors","8":"category-historical-guns","9":"category-will-dabbs","10":"tag-buzz","11":"tag-feature-articles","12":"tag-historical-guns","13":"tag-history","14":"tag-space-age"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Russian Rikhter-23M Kartech Autoloading Space Cannon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Russian Rikhter-23M Kartech Autoloading Space Cannon - Will Dabbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Russian Rikhter-23M Kartech Autoloading Space Cannon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Friday, January 24, 1975, far above the earth\u2019s surface, the Soviet Union conducted humanity\u2019s first and last test of an orbital space cannon. The tale of how the species got to that point is simply fascinating.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gun Reviews and News | GunsAmerica.com\/Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/will.dabbs.9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-03T18:13:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-06T20:55:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/spacecannon-11.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"599\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Will Dabbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Will Dabbs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Will Dabbs\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b818f415191c071a88bdc0d8cb33eca\"},\"headline\":\"The Russian Rikhter-23M Kartech Autoloading Space Cannon\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-03T18:13:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-06T20:55:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2022,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/spacecannon-11.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Buzz\",\"Feature Articles\",\"Historical Guns\",\"History\",\"space age\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Authors\",\"Historical Guns\",\"Will Dabbs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Russian Rikhter-23M Kartech Autoloading Space Cannon\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/the-russian-rikhter-23m-kartech-autoloading-space-cannon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/spacecannon-11.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-03T18:13:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-06T20:55:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Russian Rikhter-23M Kartech Autoloading Space Cannon - 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However, shooting guns and claiming it was work seemed like a pretty sweet hustle. As a result, Will serendipitously transformed an avocation into a vocation. Raised in the Mississippi Delta, Will flew UH1H, OH58A\\\/C, CH47D and AH1S helicopters operationally as an Army Aviator. He is SCUBA-qualified and has parachuted out of perfectly good airplanes at 3 o'clock in the morning. Will has summited Mount McKinley, Alaska, six times\u2026always at the controls of an Army helicopter, which is the only way sensible folk climb mountains. Will has delivered sixty babies and occasionally wrung human blood out of his socks. He is married to his high school sweetheart and has three awesome adult children. 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