14. The Salyut 3 Space Cannon
In 1974, the Soviet Union secretly armed the Salyut 3 space station with a 23-millimeter Rikhter R-23M cannon, designed for orbital defense against enemy spacecraft. This made it the only confirmed instance of a weapon being fired in space. The cannon was test-fired on January 24, 1975, after the crew had departed, with the station remotely controlled from the ground. The test was successful, with the cannon firing three short bursts, expending a total of 20 rounds, and successfully destroying a target satellite. For more details, see the article “Russian television reveals another secret: the Soviet space cannon” at Ars Technica: (arstechnica.com)
