Re: Classic Space ULs: the Pen

On Tue, 5 Jul 2005, Andrew Gray 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.
[...] 
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"

Interesting quest. I can't help push the date back, but you might like to know that I have met Paul C. Fisher. We were organizing a National Space Society conference in Chicago in 1989, and he was kind enough to take an interest and attend.

Apparently he has written a number of self-published books on political issues. I might still have the pen he gave me advertising one.

Google tells me that the Nevada legislature passed a resolution saying nice things about him in 1999.

--
  Bill Higgins    |   "Has anybody put a wrench to a rocketship,
    Fermilab      |              who hasn't read it?"
 higgins@xxxxxxxx |       --Jaime Frontero on science fiction
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