{"id":62591,"date":"2024-08-08T13:06:19","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T13:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/d52fdc02-1665-4f46-8f01-2360f657b0d0"},"modified":"2024-08-08T13:39:39","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T13:39:39","slug":"no-nasa-didnt-waste-millions-developing-a-pen-for-space-while-the-russians-used-a-pencil-heres-what-really-happened","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/no-nasa-didnt-waste-millions-developing-a-pen-for-space-while-the-russians-used-a-pencil-heres-what-really-happened\/","title":{"rendered":"No, NASA didn’t waste millions developing a pen for space while the Russians used a pencil. Here’s what really happened"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do pens work in space? And did NASA really spend millions on a space pen when a pencil would have done? <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 08 August 2024 at 13:06 PM<\/p>

\n\n

There’s an old story that during the Cold War Space Race<\/a> between the USA and the Soviet Union, NASA spent millions of dollars producing a pen that would work in zero gravity so astronauts would have a means of keeping notes and writing on paper during their missions.<\/p>

The punchline is that the Soviet astronauts got around the problem by using a pencil instead.<\/p>

Is there any truth to this story, and would a regular fountain pen work in the zero gravity of space anyway?<\/p>

More about human spaceflight:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

What do astronauts eat in space?<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>
Strangest things found onboard the ISS<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>
What are the biggest dangers on the ISS?<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>
How long does it take to get to space?<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li><\/ul>NASA astronaut Walter Cunningham using a Fisher Space Pen during Apollo 7. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The answer is that a normal fountain pen wouldn\u2019t work without gravity to pull ink from the cartridge into the nib, so pens with pressurised ink canisters are needed in the weightlessness of space.<\/p>
The old story relating the expensive NASA development of a space pen, versus Russian cosmonauts using a simple pencil, is amusing but untrue.<\/p>
According to NASA, pencils weren’t an option for astronauts, given the potential issues caused by broken leads or pencil sharpenings floating around a spacecraft orbiting the Moon.<\/p>
There is indeed a space pen that is still used today by both American and Russian astronauts and cosmonauts, but it is the Fisher Space Pen and was developed by the Fisher Pen Company<\/a>, which is a private company that continues to develop zero gravity pens.<\/p>
The pens were first used during Apollo 7and are still present on the International Space Station<\/a> today.<\/p>
So claims by concerned US taxpayers that their hard-earned dollars were wasted by frivolous NASA spending on a pointless project are, in this case, unfounded.<\/p>
This article originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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