It's important to note that pencils are terrible in space and a pen that worked in space was necessary (having graphite dust floating around in all your electro

It's important to note that pencils are terrible in space and a pen that worked in space was necessary (having graphite dust floating around in all your electronics is generally considered poor form). The pen was developed by someone interested in solving this problem, and NASA bought some, for obvious reasons. So did the Soviets.