During the heat of the space race in the 1960's, the U.S. National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) decided it needed a ball point
pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After
considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at
a cost of $1 million U.S. The pen worked and also enjoyed some modest
success as a novelty item back here on earth.
The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil.
