Soviet Cosmonauts took shotguns to space with them.

Soviet Cosmonauts took shotguns to space with them.

But American astronauts would have no use for such a thing. ... Soviet Cosmonauts, on the other hand, might need it very badly. Not to shoot American capitalists in low Earth orbit but rather for use against bears.

The salary of a cosmonaut candidate is 60,900 rubles ($935), cosmonaut — 63,800 rubles ($979), instructor-cosmonaut — 88,450 rubles ($1,359) and those who have traveled into space — 69,600 thousand rubles ($1069), writes Izvestia newspaper citing Roskosmos source. The cosmonauts also get some bonuses

No Soviet or Russian cosmonauts have died during spaceflight since 1971. The crew of Soyuz 11 were killed after undocking from space station Salyut 1 after a three-week stay.