Space Pens

[seabiscuit1009]

I just realized something: I actually have money...maybe I should go buy one...a pen, I mean, as all mine got thrown away at the end of the school year, or stolen by guys.

Let's see, Alla, the longest I ever had a pen was about 7 years, and it still worked. It was shaped like a candy cane and the ink smelled like peppermint...I need to get another one, that one was fun to write with...maybe next Christmas.

-seabiscuit, a.k.a. hungry

[kaiba4ever]

It's really ironic. The US astronauts spend much time and money in labs to find out an ink that defies gravity while Russia and all the other countries simply use a pencil.

I have a space pen. Before YW I never really noticed it. It has no stories, I can barely remember if I even ever used it for much. Crappy bic pens are good enough for me.

[Moeen]

Originally posted by kaiba4ever:
It's really ironic. The US astronauts spend much time and money in labs to find out an ink that defies gravity while Russia and all the other countries simply use a pencil.

I'm curious, I've heard this story before, but I find it a bit hard to believe. Do you have any reliable sources for this, or for that matter, does anyone else here?

[Kathy Li]

Looks like it's just another urban legend.

NASA never asked Paul C. Fisher to produce a pen. When the astronauts began to fly, like the Russians, they used pencils, but the leads sometimes broke and became a hazard by floating in the [capsule's] atmosphere where there was no gravity. They could float into an eye or nose or cause a short in an electrical device. In addition, both the lead and the wood of the pencil could burn rapidly in the pure oxygen atmosphere. Paul Fisher realized the astronauts needed a safer and more dependable writing instrument, so in July 1965 he developed the pressurized ball pen, with its ink enclosed in a sealed, pressurized ink cartridge. Fisher sent the first samples to Dr. Robert Gilruth, Director of the Houston Space Center. The pens were all metal except for the ink, which had a flash point above 200°C. The sample Space Pens were thoroughly tested by NASA. They passed all the tests and have been used ever since on all manned space flights, American and Russian. All research and developement costs were paid by Paul Fisher. No development costs have ever been charged to the government.

[Moeen]

Excellent work digging this up kli6! Thanks for the informative post and link.

[Dragon Writer]

i wish i had a space pen. they sound really cool. Unfortunately i don't. besides, i have a bad habit of loosing pens.

[Kathy Li]

Well, if you ever decide to get one, I saw some for around $20 at Staples, mostly the plain stainless steel, and matte black with or without the military insignia (I live in a Navy town). They're pretty much everywhere.

[bluesalamanders]

I'm tempted, occasionally, to buy one. It would be nice to have a nice pen. But like young reader, I have a tendency to lose pens. Even ones that I really like. So I glance at them every now and then when I'm in an office-supply store but I never spend the money. Easier to spend $5 on half a dozen pens it doesn't matter if I lose.

But someday...

Blue

[tori]

I wouldnt mind having one. I dont have a problem with losing pens..usually they are in my room or a folder or in the case. lol I dont know where to get them either..ihave never ever seen a aspace pen. if i did i would have one by now. $20 for one..umm i would still get it. do they really work like Nitas? I want one..now i have to have one..lol
Dai all
Tori-Blazie

[SpacePen]

just had to post in this thread...

I just had to post in this thread... for obvious reasons!

I've had several and lost them all (oh for a friendly white hole to come along and help me locate them!): the first was silver and had the tiny gold spaceshuttle attached to the clip, came in a nice case with a little brochure about the pen, the ink, the history of the fischer space pen company, etc. The most recent was a purple "bullet" (you can see them on the fischer space pen website) which was compact and fit nicely in my wallet and was suitable for impressing people, starting random conversations, and writing on receipts...

I've bought the combo mag-light with silver bullet space pen package as a gift for several people and am considering trying out one of their other styles now. Perhaps one of the ones that has a necklace chain.... if I get the sterling silver one and treat it like jewelry instead of like a pen I might have a chance of not misplacing it. (Incidentally, WHY don't we ever hear of Nita using a space pen after the first book? I would have thought that the capability to write underwater or in zero gravity would have come in handy in both deep and high wizardry.)

I love writing and all manner of writing utensils fascinate me, from fountain pens to text messages, from the calligraphy paint brush to the mechanical pencil. I wonder what people's favorite writing utensil is? I have to go with

-Space Pen (no need to discuss!)
-Palomino Pencils (smooth writing.... excellent graphite.... very nice)
-Parker Jotter pens (for everyday penmanship - the smoothest writing inexpensive rollerball I've ever used. Comes in colors too!)
-and those mechanical pencils that have not only refillable advancing lead but also advancing, refillable white rubber erasers.
-for highlighting, i favor dry pencil highlighters over wet ink ones
-I'm also attracted to sparkly gel pens in light colors on dark blue or black paper.

As a musician, I'm constantly on the lookout for the best candidate to mark up sheet music: smooth writing dark marking (but not too soft) lead pencils that don't smudge easily and have excellent erasers that don't tear the paper or leave smudges, that either sharpen or advance easily without breaking and are distinctive looking enough that I can lend them to fellow musicians or students and hope to have a chance of getting them back.

My dream would be to find all this in a 'marketing' pencil that I can mass order and have my name and business contact info imprinted onto.

Any suggestions?

[Tsakaki]

I don't own a space pen, every time I read the books I'm tempted, but that's really just because it's in the books, not because I really want one.

Although...a pen that writes on pretty well anything WOULD be pretty cool.
I wouldn't have anything odd to write on though.

I'm so happy I found a place to talk about the books. No one I know IRL read them. ^^

[Jacq]

the first was silver and had the tiny gold spaceshuttle attached to the clip, came in a nice case with a little brochure about the pen, the ink, the history of the fischer space pen company, etc.

I have this one! I bought it probably a decade ago, when I was in Alabama visiting friends (we went to the huge space discovery centre they have/had there.) It has a place of pride on my shelf, snuggled nicely between a signed Arrogant Worms album and some custom prints from a favourite artist. :3

I think it also came with an order form for replacement ink cartridges. I wonder if it's still usable (my cartridge ran out years ago.)

I always wondered, if the pen can write underwater, what you could write on. Paper's not exactly waterproof.

[illiriam]

I've had two. The first one I lost. I had gotten it from the Air And Space Museum, and it had the little logo and said in silver lettering
"Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum"
I know exactly what it said because three years ago, I got a replacement for it, again from the Museum.
An iIt's not really a story that goes along with it though.
Well, I guess it kinda is. I am a lefty. I write with my left hand. And I HATE writing with pencils because the lead smears everywhere, and gets all over my hand, ditto for most ball point pens. So I always use fine point/needle point pens with quick dry ink. The main exception: my space pen. For some reason, the ink doesn't smear. Plus, I always get a little rush when I write with it, like, ooh! Look at my pretty space pen!

[alla]

Jacq said:
I always wondered, if the pen can write underwater, what you could write on. Paper's not exactly waterproof.

Some paper is Rite in the Rain does some really cool notebooks, that are fully waterproof paper, but they feel like normal paper! (there are other waterproof papers out there, but they just feel like laminated normal paper). I've done a test run with these; I had a field trip to Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef in September last year, and my friends and I finally decided it was a good enough excuse to buy them as field books! They're so much fun. as soon as we got them, we put water on the page and wrote with them - and it was great that out note books didn't get ruined when they were dropped during reef walks (we had to map the coral types). I also took one sheet of the paper with me on a snorkelling trip and a pencil and wrote on it while submerged underwater! The paper went back in my pocket, and through the washing machine when I got home, and it was still good once it had dried! The company recommends using space pens, their special pens or pencils to write on the paper, as the ink in normal pens will just run when the paper gets wet

I've always wanted a space pen, but they're so expensive her - the cheapest one is $60

[illiriam]

Wow alla! I have never heard of waterproof paper but it really sounds ingenious... (as I sadly think back on the time that I spilled chocolate milk all over my history notes. I almost did cry over that spilled milk).
A quick question though, I looked around on the site and didn't notice prices. How much did you pay for your notebook?
Now I kinda want to get one, take it and my space pen to the beach and try it out... although with my luck i would lose the space pen in the first wave.