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This answer in Space SE contains the images below which come from a 1959 report on project Horizon which was found here (direct link to PDF).

The images show an astronaut on the Moon using a hand-held weapon using a Claymore mine on the end of a stick to disable and perhaps kill several other astronauts at the same time.

Question: Is this a rare instance of fact being "stranger than fiction", or has something like this hand-held Claymore mine-based weapon been written about or shown in science fiction earlier than it was proposed for use in reality, which usually turns out to be the case?

Some of the other links in that answer are probably also interesting to read.

hand-held Claymore mine-based weapon from project Horizon ca. 1959

hand-held Claymore mine-based weapon from project Horizon ca. 1959

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    The M18 "Claymore" mine was developed in the 50s, with a patent application dating to 1956, if that helps answer the question... if your question is whether real anti-personnel mines on a stick exist and post-date this picture, that doesn't help you. The weapon shown has more in common with a blunderbuss than with an AP mine.
    – gowenfawr
    Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 3:49
  • @gowenfawr My question very clearly and explicitly asks about the use of a hand-held device in space in fiction, so I'm not sure how that helps. I use "Claymore" because that's the term used in the linked technical description, and presumably that was intentional.
    – uhoh
    Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 4:05
  • You and I remember very clearly very differently.
    – gowenfawr
    Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 13:08
  • @gowenfawr "remembering" as nothing to do with anything here. I've simply asked a question about the use of hand-held devices in space in fiction, based on linked sources. "if your question is whether real..." is not helpful because my question is concise and clear, and clearly not that.
    – uhoh
    Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 13:22
  • @gowenfawr the linked pdf includes a mention of the T48E1 device that was the predecessor of the M18. Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 13:55

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