Classic Space ULs: the Pen

So. The Fisher Space Pen.

The story is a classic one, and probably will last for decades - that
NASA spent $bignum dollars developing a pen that could work in all sorts
of environments... and the Russians used a pencil.

[bignum varies, but has been known to inflate to two billion!]

Anyway, doing some reading last night, I ran across a reference to it in
a 1990 book, quoting Lutz Kayser, one of the OTRAG people.

: ...and Kayser had a particular fondness for criticizing NASA's
: approaches to space hardware. "Did you know," he'd ask visitors,
: "that NASA allocated about half a million dollars just to develop
: a ballpoint pen for the Apollo missions that would work under
: conditions of weightlessness when, after all, an ordinary pencil could
: do the job just as well?"

A date's not given, but likely the 1970s; the context of the passage was
1975-77 or so.

This is quite interesting. Firstly, it's the lowest amount I've seen
cited (the actual cost to Fisher was about $2m), and secondly *it
doesn't mention the Russians*. The gist of the story - that NASA spends
money like water - remains the same, but not mentioning the reference
changes the dynamic somewhat.

Anyway...

Digging back on Usenet I found a reference in 1995 (with a familiar
name) and one in 1993, which cites the book I was reading. Someone makes
a passing reference to having heard it circa 1991/2.

Does anyone know of an earlier occurence of this story? We've traced the
"great wall seen from the moon" to its origins, but I'm still vague when
this one made the leap from "nifty gadget" to "parable of government
waste"

--
-Andrew Gray
andrew.gray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
.

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