Zero Gravity

Heard on the Net: (urban legend per comment below ... but a principle worth remembering.)

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 several years and a $1 million
development project to produce a
pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, on
almost any surface, including glass, and at temperatures
ranging from well below freezing to over 200 F.

The Russians used a pencil.

Comments

[ul]

Humorous anecdote; urban legend: http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

[Nicola]

I bought my Dad a Russian space pencil at Christmas. I found it in Urbis, a museum about the modern city here in Manchester (UK).