Misc. Ramblings

The Fisher Space Pen. The name evokes all kinds of high tech caché. I mean, if it's good enough to fly to the moon it must be some great pen.

There is even an urban myth that it cost NASA $1 million USD to develop the pen. But the truth is a bit more mundane than that as this article reveals. It seems the pen was developed by the Fisher pen company with no government funds. That's right, NASA didn't spend a dime creating the pen. Fisher did all the design and manufacturing of the pen probably more as a marketing effort than anything else (Pencils work just fine in space, although, you do have to sharpen them, thus creating a potential problem with the shavings floating free).

Maybe it's just me, but the article points out an interesting sidelight in that astronauts took various souvenir into space. Some, like a flag or good luck charm seem okay. But one astronaut took a bra. No, it was not a female (I'm not even sure a woman needs to wear a bra in space since she would be weightless and would have no need for support). So one wonders why the astronaut decided to take it. I can see the ad campaign now, "The bra worn round the world!" Or perhaps, "The bra worn to the moon!" Well, I thought it was interesting.

Disclosure: I owned a Fisher Space Pen when I was in high school. It worked quite well but, in the end, who needs to use one on Earth when you could buy cheap BIC pens for probably around 50 cents? In addition, I also owned, and still own and use, an Omega Speedmaster Professional watch ("The First Watch Worn on the Moon!" It still works quite well, although it looks a bit worse for wear (I got it as a high school graduation present in 1975).

Aloha!