Those pens, ya know

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Just a funny and true story to cheer everyone up.

When NASA got people up in space they soon discovered that it was impossible to write with a ballpoint. This because of the zero-gravity. So they spent lots of money on developing the space-pen. It can write under water, up and down, in space, anywhere. Great, problem solved, the American way.

When glasnost came and NASA began working together with the Soviet union they told the story about that pen. They asked how the Soviets had sold the problem. The Soviets looked surpised at the Americans and then produced a lead pencil. It can write in space, up and down. Problem solved the Soviet way.

I thoguh it was pretty funny.

 

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Class

 

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Very amusing indeed

 

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In the Cold War it was said:
That americans ate children's breakfast and the Russians ate children at breakfast

 

[Krasnaya Strela]

I heard similar story, quite old now, about when the then new T72 came out with the smoothbore 125. Story goes: "The US spent a fortune to get a satelitte shot with enough defination so check the size of the new barrel, the Brits snuck a guy into the lager overnight with a measuring tape, and the French took a couple of the Soviet officers out to dinner and walked away with a maintence manual."

 

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Good stories!

But does anyone know if there is ANY reason why a pencil is not the best for space? Or did we just spend a couple billion dollars for nothing?

 

[Keynes]

Originally posted by Admiral Yi
Good stories!

But does anyone know if there is ANY reason why a pencil is not the best for space? Or did we just spend a couple billion dollars for nothing?

And expose highly trained astronauts to deadly lead poisoning?!

Damn Commies always trying to cheap out on the contractors. Just not the American way.

 

[Arkestra]

But does anyone know if there is ANY reason why a pencil is not the best for space? Or did we just spend a couple billion dollars for nothing?

Well, a ballpoint pen that can write anywhere you can sell in the Innovations catalogue; a lead pencil you can't.

 

[HisMajestyBOB]

Pens don't leave eraser bits al over the place (even worse in zero-G)
They also don't leave bits of graphite dust floating around.

But at least Americans can afford to do things like this.

 

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I heard and read somewhere that the first object to get to the speed of light was a pen(or pencil), reaching 300 000 km/s rotating.
That would be some special pen/pencil...
Can anyone confirm this?

 

[celedhring]

Ahem. Sorry to burst your little bubble, but this story is false, and has had quite a living on the web. The NASA indeed used ball pens right from the start, but they had to replace them because they tended to break easily, and having a large ink dot floating around it's not the easiest way to do space flying. So they developed that super-duper pen, but it came almost for free, as a senior inventor gave the patent for free.

If you want proof, I can look up for a link.

 

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Originally posted by Admiral Yi
But does anyone know if there is ANY reason why a pencil is not the best for space?

No reason. They took pens, which didn't work: the immediate question which sprang to mind was "how can we make pens work?" It might just have easily have been "what can we use instead?" but it wasn't. Not enough lateral thinkers at NASA.

 

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Originally posted by celedhring
Ahem. Sorry to burst your little bubble, but this story is false, and has had quite a living on the web. The NASA indeed used ball pens right from the start, but they had to replace them because they tended to break easily, and having a large ink dot floating around it's not the easiest way to do space flying. So they developed that super-duper pen, but it came almost for free, as a senior inventor gave the patent for free.

If you want proof, I can look up for a link.

You learn something new every day. I always thought it was all true.

 

[celedhring]

From the official site of Fisher Co., the developers of the "Space Pen"

Space Pens have a long history of customer satisfaction. In the 1950's there were dozens of ballpoint models, and nearly every one took a different cartridge. In 1953 Fisher invented the "Universal Refill" which could be used in most pens. It was a good seller, since stationary store owners could reduce their stock of assorted refills.

Space Pens inventor, Paul Fisher was not content and continued to work on making a better refill. After much experimentation he perfected a refill using thixotropic ink-semisolid until the shearing action of the rolling ball liquefied it-that would flow only when needed. The cartridge was pressurized with nitrogen so that it didn't rely on gravity to make it work. It was dependable in freezing cold and desert heat. It could also write underwater and upside down. The trick was to have the ink flow when you wanted it to, and not to flow the rest of the time, a problem Fisher solved. Fisher's development couldn't have come at a more opportune time. The space race was on, and the astronauts involved in the Mercury and Gemini missions had been using pencils to take notes in space since standard ball points did not work in zero gravity. The Fisher cartridge did work in the weightlessness of outer space and the astronauts, beginning with the October, 1968 Apollo 7 mission began using the Fisher AG-7 Pen and cartridge developed in 1966.

You can read the whole shebanghere