Ooh, I remember reading about that. Old grandpa space shit is my jam. It wasn't really a "laser" exactly, more of a magazine-fed flashbulb. The US airforce developed something simlar in conjunction with NASA for proposed defense of a hypothetical moon-base, but eventually decided normal pistols & shotguns would work fine if you get special vacuum lubricant.
The Soviets sent up quite a lot of wacky atompunk weapons & shit back in the day. That 3-in-1 survival rifle, a 40mm AA cannon they strapped to one of their early stations, and the anti-Starwars particle beam that (thankfully?) didn't make orbit.
The US undoubtedly did too, but it's still mostly classified. But hell, just the peeks at the Casaba Howitzer system are terrifying.
Ooh, I remember reading about that. Old grandpa space shit is my jam. It wasn't really a "laser" exactly, more of a magazine-fed flashbulb. The US airforce developed something simlar in conjunction with NASA for proposed defense of a hypothetical moon-base, but eventually decided normal pistols & shotguns would work fine if you get special vacuum lubricant.
The Soviets sent up quite a lot of wacky atompunk weapons & shit back in the day. That 3-in-1 survival rifle, a 40mm AA cannon they strapped to one of their early stations, and the anti-Starwars particle beam that (thankfully?) didn't make orbit.
The US undoubtedly did too, but it's still mostly classified. But hell, just the peeks at the Casaba Howitzer system are terrifying.