Submitted by glastonbury13 t3_10p90cu in space
BanditSixActual t1_j6lj17e wrote
Reply to comment by -Raskyl in What kind of items can I buy for my class that would be used on a Shuttle / ISS? by glastonbury13
Everyone used pencils at the beginning of the space program. NASA ordered some mechanical pencils because there were fears over the flammability of wooden pencils after the Apollo 1 fire. They paid something like $130 per pencil in 1965 money, and there was public outcry. Fisher developed the space pen with their own money and offered it to NASA, who paid approximately $2.40 per pen by buying in bulk. The Russians ordered them too and paid the same price.
Both space programs have used them ever since, and one arguably saved the Apollo 11 mission when the astronauts used one to fix a broken arming switch, without which, they could not have returned to earth.
Fisher supposedly spent 1 million developing and patenting the space pen. When you think about how many pens have sold for $50 at various aerospace museums over the decades, it was a solid investment.
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