Thats NASA for ya
10-05-2006, 06:42 PM
#1
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Thats NASA for ya
When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint
pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a
decade and $12 billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down,
underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from
below freezing to 300°C.
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The Russians used a pencil.
pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a
decade and $12 billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down,
underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from
below freezing to 300°C.
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The Russians used a pencil.
10-05-2006, 06:44 PM
#2
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Sorry Gramps:
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
And Russian pencils don't write on glass very well.
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
And Russian pencils don't write on glass very well.
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'*] 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.
10-05-2006, 06:56 PM
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Originally Posted by willwren
Sorry Gramps:
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
And Russian pencils don't write on glass very well.
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
And Russian pencils don't write on glass very well.
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'*] 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.
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