I just finished watching the Nova episode AstroSpies, which is about US and Soviet plans to place manned spy satellites in orbit. There was lots of interesting stuff in the program, but one item that caught my eye was the fact that the Soviets put a cannon on their platform for defense. It looked like it was aimed by sight.

Given the oddities of orbital mechanics, could you simply point and shoot at an approaching satellite?

If anyone interested, the show can be viewed online here.

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"That's Not Blight. It's New Jersey" - The Wall Street Journal

Yes; very interesting. I will probably be looking for a timeline to see how it fits in with NASA because it seemed rather obvious the two had some interrelations.
I don't think they made it clear if the Soviets considered it to be more useful, or more as a deterrent.
I suppose it would matter on if the center of mass is in line with the barrel.
Just think of the range...

I thought it was also interesting that they never tested it until the end of the platform's life. The CosmoSpies seemed to think it would shake the platform apart.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

As I recall, they tested the cannon by remote control. I guess they really didn't trust the thing was safe to use.

On another topic, I got a knot in my stomach listening to the story of the two "Cosmo spies" who were on-board the station when a full power failure occurred. No light, no communication, no nothing. Find a flashlight and fix the station before the batteries go dead. Talk about on-the-job stress!

The show didn't indicate if there was a possibility to evacuate the station or if the failure included the Soyuz. Either way, one of the cosmonauts became unhinged afterward.

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"That's Not Blight. It's New Jersey" - The Wall Street Journal