Dr Ross
Ok, the story goes something like this:
[ authenticity, questionable ]
It was the peak of the cold-war period when the Soviet block and the Western block were vying with
each other in every possible sphere of human existence. So too was the arena of SPACE dragged into the
field of one-upmanship.
NASA astronauts were finding it difficult to make jottings in the log books and take notes of various things
while travelling in space. The writing instruments just wouldn't work. The ink either froze or just refused
to flow with capillary action.
When this was notified to NASA, they appointed an expert committee with an unlimited budget - the sole
purpose of it was to design pens that would write in zero-gravity and sub-zero conditions. A lot of money
was spent, time invested and R&D done. After the passage of several years and expending of several millions
on the project, many prototypes were put to test. But none of these was 100% fit for usage on space
voyages. Based upon the feedback, several up-gradations were made. But the dis-satisfaction persisted.
Some wise guy came up with the bright idea of taking a peep into how the Soviets addressed the issue.
They found the Soviets Cosmonauts using PENCILS !
B Rgds
Yay Yem
PS: Dr Ross, there are some "SPACE PENS" available for a price - several Internet Marketing Cos
advertise for these. I really don't know who buys these and for what purpose ! If I ever do so, I think
I will go to space with PENCIL, an ERASER - and maybe a 7'C Clock blade, in case I need to sharpen it there