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"Build it simple" I once heard a story from a NASA employee. She said that regular ballpoint pens don't work in space due to the zero gravity. So she said NA
by massysett 3y ago
"Build it simple"
I once heard a story from a NASA employee. She said that regular ballpoint pens don't work in space due to the zero gravity. So she said NASA got some engineers to develop some sort of fancy ballpoint pen that would move the ink even in zero gravity.
She said the Soviets just used pencils.
- sandworm101 3y agoAnd pencils are famously dangerous in space. Graphite is a conductor. You don't want conductive dust floating around a pressurized chamber filled with electronics, oxygen and people. There are lots of little health details about zero gravity, things that literally never come up on earth. Dust is a big one. Dust doesn't settle to the ground in space. You end up inhaling it. Graphite (also glass) is not the sort of things you want to inhale.
- gorkish 3y agoYeah that's probably why the soviets (and the americans) used grease pencils instead of graphite pencils in space. The absurdism of this pencil/pen lore goes so deep that even the corrections can't get it right. Seriously does everyone just assume that people in the 60's were that stupid?
- psunavy03 3y agoNo, it's just a meme about how Americans are supposedly nerds who overengineer things while Russians are supposedly commonsensical manly alcoholics.
- lovecg 3y agoIt’s a compelling story that’s fun to tell at parties. These are often 90% untrue. Seriously think of any historic “fun fact”, it’s probably mostly false. The reality is much simpler. Pencils suck for long term record keeping. Grease pencils especially. A guy developed a space pen and asked NASA if they wanted it. They tested it and it worked pretty well, so they ordered a bunch. The Soviets then bought a bunch too by the way! But yeah that’s not nearly as fun as “dumb rich Americans over-engineer everything”.
- sandworm101 3y agoDuring the space race, it was actually America that pioneered drinking alcohol in space. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/sep/13/buzz-aldrin-communion-moon https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/sep/13...
- a_gnostic 3y ago> Seriously does everyone just assume that people in the 60's were that stupid? Most people assume history is about getting smarter and better; That bartering changed to trade with seashells because currency is smarter. They don't understand the supply chain, and the difficulty of obtaining enough quantities of calcium carbonate to construct city walls. They don't understand that people can't economize on things they don't know. They think /dumb/ is synonymous with /ignorant/. Some do learn the difference, but choose to remain /stupid/ by assuming past people were dumb, instead of making the best out of what they had and knew.
- philk10 3y agohttps://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/space-astronomy/space-flight/fisher-space-pen/ https://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/space-astronomy/spac...
- themikesanto 3y agoThis is an urban legend. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen#Uses_in_the_U.S._and_Soviet_space_programs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen#Uses_in_the_U.S._and...
- miramba 3y agoYet they sold me one of those space pens in the cape canaveral visitor center in 2000…and it‘s a really good pen, works as advertised upside-down, and is still working. I like to use it when I sign important papers.
- DarmokJalad1701 3y agoThe urban legend is not that such a pen exists. But the part about the pencils and the part that NASA paid their engineers to develop the pen. The Fisher pen was developed using private capital, not government funding. It was later used by both NASA and the USSR.
- elteto 3y agoYou made it even worse by quoting an urban legend and trying to pass it as personal experience. Also, graphite shavings are bad for your lungs and they float everywhere in low gravity.
- massysett 3y agoThis was personal experience, it’s really not necessary for you to call me a liar.