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Russian cosmonaut hails idea of complementing crews’ emergency kit with weapons

The cosmonaut explained that a spacecraft may land anywhere on Earth, including sites with wild animals

STAR CITY /Moscow Region/, September 17. /TASS/. Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononeko believes that in certain situations space crews returning from the International Space Station may need weapon, while the current emergency kits include no arms at all.

"A re-entry capsule may touch the surface at any point on the globe. Possibly, this may happen in hard-to-access areas, so we may need a special knife to build a shelter. Possibly, we will need weapons, because wild animals are still there," Kononeko told a news conference at the space training center on Tuesday.

He remarked that the descent module can be spotted very quickly, but the search on the ground and evacuation may require much time.

The current portable emergency kit contains the minimum set of materials, foods, medicines and other items crucial for the survival in emergencies following an aborted launch or emergency reentry.

The Russian space corporation Roscosmos said it was considering various lists of emergency tools for the crews of the future spacecraft Orel, previously known as Federatsiya.