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There is an anecdote I've read a few times: "During the space race back in the 1960's, NASA was faced with a major problem. The astronaut needed a pen that wou
by ssharp 15y ago
There is an anecdote I've read a few times:
"During the space race back in the 1960's, NASA was faced with a major problem. The astronaut needed a pen that would write in the vacuum of space. NASA went to work. At a cost of $1.5 million they developed the "Astronaut Pen". Some of you may remember. It enjoyed minor success on the commercial market.
The Russians were faced with the same dilemma.
They used a pencil."
The idea is to show outcome-oriented thinking. The desired outcome wasn't to use a pen, but rather, to simply write or record.
- quanticle 15y agoThat anecdote, by the way, is an urban legend: http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
- wazoox 15y agoBut the Italians say Si non è vero, è ben trovato. I've read a book from a former astronaut though, that tend to prove there's some truth to the legend; it was about the vacuum cleaner used in Mir. The NASA devised a sophisticated way to clean up the Space Shuttle; the Russians simply used an ordinary vacuum cleaner from the nearest supermarket.
- wazoox 15y agoWhy the downvotes? I've checked, this story is in Patrick Baudry's book : "conquête spatiale, la déroute". ( http://www.patrick-baudry.com/bibliographie/patrick-baudry-auteur/ http://www.patrick-baudry.com/bibliographie/patrick-baudry-a... )
- wazoox 15y agoI've dug out the book :) p. 99 it says (rough translation): "I remember an anecdote from 1982. That year, the vacuum cleaner used in the saliout 7 station failed. I had the opportunity to admire the simplicity and efficacy of the Russian method. An ordinary vacuum cleaner was bought from Star City supermarket, sent to Baïkonur via the next plane and loaded into the next Progress cargo ship. Once aboard the station, it was plugged in, and worked perfectly. Problem solved. The whole operation costed 5 rubles (1 US $)".
- pavel_lishin 15y ago> The whole operation costed 5 rubles (1 US $) If it only costs a buck to launch a commercial vacuum cleaner into space, I will eat a hat of your choosing.
- quanticle 15y agoIf there was a mission already scheduled, the marginal cost of adding the vacuum cleaner is $1.
- jonknee 15y agoThat anecdote happens to be false though. The Astronaut Pen was made independently of NASA and was sold to them (and Russia) like it's sold to the public. Wood pencils pose trouble in zero-g (graphite dust, broken tips, flammable wood, etc). http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
- ssharp 15y agoI knew that the anecdote was false and forgot to add that. The point wasn't to show up NASA or research. The point was to show outcome-oriented thought.
- jonknee 15y agoIt was still very poor outcome-oriented thought. There are dangers associated with pencils that are solved by a pen. Space flight's outcome should be safety, so regardless the answer won't end up being a pencil.
- ssharp 15y agoI think it still works fine as a basic metaphor to help illustrate the idea. The metaphor doesn't need to be 100% inline to do that and expecting it to seems a bit pedantic. Speaking of pedantic, a flight's outcome is not really safety, nor was space flight what the folklore mentions. It was addressing the requirement to write/record in space.
- cschmidt 15y agoI have an Astronaut Pen in my pants pocket right now. It's a great pen to carry around with you.
- artmageddon 15y agoOther posters have already mentioned the urban legend that this comprises.. but on a slight rant, I hate it when this anecdote gets rolled out because this is the sort of short-sighted thinking that gets interesting research canned. One person felt long ago(can't find the exact quote) that there was once a world market for maybe five computers, and others thought that lasers and x-rays would be nothing more than a sham. To put it another way: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2088#comic http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2088#c...
- InclinedPlane 15y agoFor a considerable time the laser was considered a solution in search of a problem. Now, of course, they have a huge number of vital uses and nearly everyone in the developed world owns several in one form or another. For that matter it took a long time for computers to have an impact on productivity. For a while people wondered whether personal computers actually made business sense. Now, in the era of mass global computerized communications the advantages are hard to ignore.
- bythebay 15y agoIf the pencil tip broke while writing in space, it could easily mess up astronauts nostrils, instrument panels etc. The pen approach takes care of corner cases.