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{{a|g|[[File:AG-7 Space Pen.JPG|450px|thumb|A space-age pencil yesterday]]}}''Warning — another in the JC’s collection of [[amusing but apocryphal stories about space flight]]. This one an excellent fable for shutting up technolocal evangelist types''. | {{a|g|[[File:AG-7 Space Pen.JPG|450px|thumb|A space-age pencil yesterday]]}}''Warning — another in the JC’s collection of [[amusing but apocryphal stories about space flight]]. This one an excellent fable for shutting up technolocal evangelist types''. | ||
During the heady days of the space program, technologists hit upon a snag: in zero-gravity, a ballpoint pen will not work as it relies on gravity | During the heady days of the space program, technologists hit upon a snag: in zero-gravity, a ballpoint pen will not work, as it relies on gravity to push the ink down into the ball mechanism. This is why you cannot write upside down with a biro. | ||
What to do, for our brave astronauts of the sky? Well, | What to do, for our brave astronauts of the sky? Well, being keen supporters of the entrepreneurial private sector, NASA commissioned a chap by the name of Fisher<ref>Actually, Fisher just went out and built it and offered it to NASA, entrepreneur-fashion.</ref> to design a pen that would work in zero-gravity. The result, after hundreds of thousands of dollars (''millions'' in today’s money!) of research and development, was the [https://www.spacepen.com/about-us.aspx Fisher Space Pen], a device so clever that it was used reliably on missions from Apollo 7 onward, and and can still be purchased from good retailers today. | ||
Meanwhile, in Irkutsk, the Russian space program had the same problem. Their man, | Meanwhile, in Irkutsk, the Russian space program had the same problem. Their man, [[Good luck, Mr. Gorsky|Maxim Gorsky]], came up with a simpler solution: the Russians sent their cosmonauts into space with ''[[pencil]]s''. | ||
===Errata=== | ===Errata=== | ||
The story is only partly true — or ''false'', if you accept [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-write-stuff/ Snopes]’ categorisation — and the reasons behind the parts that are right are far more subtle. But all fiction has the power to educate | The story is only partly true — or ''false'', if you accept [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-write-stuff/ Snopes]’ categorisation — and the reasons behind the parts that are right are far more subtle. But all fiction has the power to educate |