Mystery: Why is NASA training astronauts in Medieval Weaponry

I think that OP is correct in his theory, plus fighting in space suit is just as cubersome as fighting in heavy armor.
But arts of fighting with swords/daggers/ctr was developed while gravity was taken for granted. I think that in space at zero/low/high it will be very different.
However great for movies. Imagine - WW3, Astronauts with morningstars vs Tykonauts with qiangs vs Cosmonauts with maces. All this in high-tech environment of crashing space station. Bruce Willis, we are with you!
Hollywood - pay attention.

reply to post by Wayfarer


Possibilities:
A. Some one is pulling your leg
B. Some one is pulling everyone leg
C. Someone is really bored at NASA.

I used to do heavy weapons fighting in the SCA,
Whacking some one in the head with a stick is more fun than you think
Until I tore up my rotator cuff and blew out an elbow and the bruises started taking weeks to go away.

This may be hard to believe but when NASA was first designing space suits they actually did take a serious look at how medieval armor was built. There's a lot more technology in a Gothic suit of armor than you think.
T-slot's, sliding rivets etc. Some of those ideas I think were introduced into the first prototype Space suits which were similar to hard shell diving suits. Needless to say they didn't go down that road.

But think, Have you ever thought about how would you go about fighting in space?
Seriously you can't use a gun, problems with recoil, handling of ammo etc.
Maybe a electrically fired gun system like the Metal storm. Still have a problem with recoil.
And you don't want the bullets flying around making holes you'd have to patch up later.

Lasers? Portable as a refrigerator and require too much energy. Not enough bang for the buck.

In the book "The Forever war" by Joe Haldeman, they use a type of Chainsaw sword with small attached rockets to get around how to fight in Zero G. The rockets are used the remove the sword from the the errr...subject.

So maybe some at NASA finally asked "Uh.......so how do we fight in space?"

Haven't you guys ever heard the stories of knights in shining armor defeating fire breathing dragons? Probably some grays biting off more then they could chew. Clearly the helmets must have acted like tin foil hats and aliens aren't great at dueling. That must be why aliens have waited until the modern age to make their move, we kept kicking their tiny little butts back into space.

reply to post by nosacrificenofreedom


Case less ammo has been around for a while there are fully automatic weapons that were developed using it and it's more compact so you can have more ammo. Yes you can shoot it in space because it provides its own oxygen.

Also one would have to assume that any attempt to use firearms in space the shooter would be looking for single shots or burst mode for tougher targets or would be braced against a back stop or using magnetic attire of some sort like boots.

It's possible there is fear of invasion from the Chinese capsule after all how could you stop the ISS if they decided to deorbit it over Washington ?

reply to post by ACErimmer


Negative... time travel is way more dangerous then that.

Once you step outside of the thing you all call time. All paths branch out and all become real and all exist, so yes you can go back in time and kill your grandfather and nothing will happen to you personally because you would have steeped out of that time line and wavelength.

In fact you can go back in time and kill yourself a second before you went back in time and nothing will change in your current timeline/wavelength because you have steeped out of that timeline/wavelength. And in the other timeline you would of just been dead, and that dimension/ world would just adapt and move on, you could do that ad infinitum in any number of ways you could imagine.

And it will just change and branch out to accustom those changes with no one in that wavelength knowing that things changed because to those trapped in the web of its making all things simply are the way they are. And it will always move on, with or without you or anything or anybody, even if there is completely nothing left in it but the void. It still will exist and continue to move on in that void as nothing but the void.

Really time travel is not dangerous because it has rules, but because it really has no rules whatsoever. Everything that can be, is and can exist all at the same time in the same place, without anybody being none the wiser about it.

reply to post by Wayfarer


the weapons training is to survive the Zombie Apocalypse .. starting October 28th.

reply to post by Wayfarer



its very simple

33

Nasa is full of knight templar or teutonic knights legacy beliefs

what weapons did they use?

Originally posted by ZeroKnowledge
>>> fighting in space suit is just as cubersome as fighting in heavy armor.
But arts of fighting with swords/daggers/ctr was developed while gravity was taken for granted. I think that in space at zero/low/high it will be very different.

Maybe they found a planet were the population are tech was in the medevil times and to mix among the population and protect themselves they are learning the art.
Just maybe they are smart enough not to land and run around with tech that the inhabitants might get hold of and try and back engineer.
Just a theory folks :-)

Maybe some black project finally managed to create some sort of real light saber and now NASA is starting knight training.

But yeah , sounds more like some sort of team building/bonding exercise/experience. But Lightsabers! woo! would been so cool!

Wow, next thing you know NASA will announce the new " Wood Fired Space Craft " to replace the Shuttle.... Alas history does repeat itself. Team Building Exercise... or they been watching to much "Walking Dead"

I'm calling BS until nasa actually sends a check and books something

c'mon now

First thing that came to mind is that NASA is trying to get through the TSA... and decided they need to fabricate their own weapons from meteor sh*t - so they could hijack the Russian spacecraft we're carpooling with. Or something like that....

Maybe Luke Skywalker and Obi wan Ben Kenobi are real - and they're coming to Planet Earth to destroy the Empire and get rid of Darth Vader once and for all.

It could be that NASA's invented the club - but hasn't quite determined how it works.

Or maybe NASA bounced a few too many checks at Ace Hardware and is on a debt collector's list - so a) they need replacements for their screwdrivers and wrenches, and b) want to scare the repo man away.

To secure additional funding to explore space, they've decided to make movies - and are now casting for a remake of the Planet of the Apes.

This reminds me of a quote by Albert Einstein: " I know not what weapons WWIII will be fought, but WWIV will be fought with sticks and stones."

I have read once that the only way to fight high tech weapons is with low tech weapons.

Going for original (to this thread) conjecture... NASA is preparing to defend it's Earth bases and equipment from the masses once an EMP or massive solar flare takes out electronics. They are planning for when the bullets run out on all sides. Thoroughly planning for a wasteland future.

Isn't there a Michael Crichton book about this, the Time Traveler or something? I read it years ago...

Originally posted by Wayfarer
I am a member of a very large organization founded upon the study and practical recreation of the lost arts of Medieval and Rennaisance combat. However, as mentioned in the title, the head of our organization was recently contacted by NASA to ascertain the viability of utilizing him to personally train their astronauts in Medieval weaponry and fighting. Unfortunatley, NASA didn't give him an explanation of the relevance or need for such training, so I now pose the question to my intrepid conspiracy theorists, since the majority of my organizations musings have been just that (consipiracy theories).

My own thoughts (while trying my best to maintain some sort of realistic relevancy) have hovered around the potential for military actions in space. If that is the case, it stands to reason that projectile weapons would be perhaps prohibitive in a fragile spacecraft, whereas melee weapons tend to cause a lot less collateral damage.

How about the rest of ATS, what say you?

Ever read Michael Crichton's Timeline...it reminds of that...which involves time travel...its a cool thing to think about....

Originally posted by cosmicexplorer
Ever read Michael Crichton's Timeline...it reminds of that...which involves time travel...its a cool thing to think about....

Thinking alike as per the post above yours. Timeline is the title, thanks.

Its very simple. Any advanced aliens could easily disable our mechanical weapons, so the only thing of any use to them would be weapons with no moving parts, ie swords, a mace, etc. Also if one of your fellow astronauts goes coo coo on the way to Mars, it might be useful to know how to brain him with whatever can pass for a sword or a mace. Ok there is my two cents. Mwa, ha ha.

Let's say this is not a rumor, imo it is but a hobby maybe? if they really wanted to learn close combat skills Martial Arts will ALWAYS win against Medieval combat.

A knight with a broadsword is no match against a Samurai, or a real ninja trained with a katana.