When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, on almost any surface including glass and temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 C.

The Russians used a pencil.



I dont' know how valid this is. But ive seen those space pens that sell for $100 or so that can write on anything. Plus i like to think it is.

 

Here

 

I used to have one of those "space pens"

I guess mine was the dumbed-down $20 version (although refills cost like $16 ) but it did indeed write upside down and underwater...never got a chance to test out its zero-gravity abilities, though...

 

You tested its negative gravity abilities, and that's twice as good as zero gravity if you think about it.

 

i have one.



it's gas charged, gas pressure is pushing the ink out.
so you can really write upside down or underwater or whatever.

other then that it's just a pen...
works just like other pen.
i prefer "bic" pens actually, they write much cleaner and nicer.

i dunno what's up with that something million $ development blah blah,
i don't think it would be that hard to come up with "gas charged" idea/gimmick.

it was a gift but i think it's around $20 or so.

 

More on the urban legends site here: http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

"Fisher spent over one million dollars in trying to perfect the ball point pen before he made his first successful pressurized pens in 1965. Samples were immediately sent to Dr. Robert Gilruth, Manager of the Houston Space Center, where they were thoroughly tested and approved for use in Space in September 1965. In December 1967 he sold 400 Fisher Space Pens to NASA for $2.95 each. "

 

good logic

 

I got one for only $12.

 

The pencil is an old legend but I see no reason to doubt it. The Russians engineered things differently than we did. Their circuits were probably more likely to fail from other causes than floating pencil leads. Besides, with a non-mechanical pencil the formed tip doesn't have to be that long.

Look what they did with aluminum alloys in aircraft when we pursued nickel super-alloys. they weren't "wrong" there either but our scientists laughed at that too.