Re: Classic Space ULs: the Pen

On 5 Jul 2005 22:54:48 GMT, Andrew Gray <andrew.gray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>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"

Well considering that Fisher developed the pen on their own coin and
both NASA and the Russian's did eventually buy some for use in their
respective programe, the story is just an urban legend.

Mercury used grease pens for fear that graphite particles (which are
conductive) could get into switches and short them out.

Kelly McDonald
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Homo Sovieticus Thinking
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    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: WHY NOT JUST SUSPEND THE SPACE PROGRAM
    ... > "NASA spent millions to develop a pen that would write in zero gravity. ... NASA paid $2.95 each for the pens and didn't spend a dime in dev ... the space program.So i guess those handy cordless drills,circular saws ... I think battery powered and cordless tools were developed by a whole "different" industry. ...
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  • Classic Space ULs: the Pen
    ... NASA spent $bignum dollars developing a pen that could work in all sorts ... a 1990 book, quoting Lutz Kayser, one of the OTRAG people. ... money like water - remains the same, but not mentioning the reference ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: Classic Space ULs: the Pen
    ... >>a 1990 book, quoting Lutz Kayser, one of the OTRAG people. ... >>money like water - remains the same, but not mentioning the reference ... which cites the book I was reading. ... > Mercury used grease pens for fear that graphite particles (which are ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: Any reason to release memory-only streams?
    ... > do that with Pens. ... > return the static field. ... If you call Dispose on this Pen then the object ... > because Pens.Black checks to see if the reference is null, ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.framework)