
The myth of NASA's expensive space pens - jwdunne
http://kottke.org/13/10/the-myth-of-nasas-expensive-space-pens
======
zach
The pens are still made by the Fisher family in their factory, which moved
from Van Nuys, California to Boulder City, Nevada (as I myself did -- Boulder
City is a neat place to grow up).

Their current challenge is actually finding American sources for the pen's
parts, to keep it a 100% made-in-the-USA product:

[http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/nevadan-work-ceo-
space...](http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/nevadan-work-ceo-space-pen-
company-runs-down-earth-company)

You can tell I love this company. Did I mention the Field Notes branded pen?

[http://fieldnotesbrand.com/spacepen/](http://fieldnotesbrand.com/spacepen/)

~~~
arrrg
“to keep it a 100% made-in-the-USA product”

Yay, nationalism.

~~~
chrischen
Or anti-globalism, anti-exploitation of developing countries. Contrary to
popular belief, there _are_ valid practical benefits to keeping things within
the US economy.

For example, outsourcing manufacturing jobs to China _does_ hurt American
workers... and China doesn't operate under the same environmental and labor
laws, so it's not exactly fair.

~~~
marcosdumay
> anti-exploitation of developing countries

No problem with your other points, but if you have the chance, ask some
exploited laborer in a developing country if he would like you to stop
exploiting him.

~~~
coldtea
I have asked lots and they would LOVE for foreign countries to stop exploiting
them.

I guess it makes one sleep easier if he thinks "at least we're giving them
jobs" \-- forgetting the part where foreign companies behave like
colonialists, making pacts and keeping their lackeys in power in those
countries, influencing local laws, stiffling development of local initiatives
-- down to employing thugs and/or private armies in some countries.

So the "we're giving them jobs and spend money on the place" mostly amounts to
"what would those slaves do without us" of the Southern slave owners of old...

~~~
BariumBlue
> foreign countries to stop exploiting them

Most developing countries need/would benefit greatly from foreign goods. The
only way to get those foreign goods is from foreign currency, which can only
be gotten from foreign companies. The main reason WHY companies are motivated
to move operations into underdeveloped countries is because said workers are
so exploitable.

Imagine if, from the dawn of capitalism in China, China mandated pollution and
labor laws equivalent to the US's. I don't imagine that China would not be
anywhere near as developed as it is now, and it's possible the current
standard of living would be even worse. (just a thought example, elucidation
from actual cases/examples appreciated)

~~~
seabee
Perhaps an even easier to imagine example: would the Industrial Revolution
have happened if we had the same pollution and labor laws then?

Or looking at the other side, if China had the same laws as us, if we had
nowhere to outsource our externalities, would it still work? In other words,
is outsourcing the reason we can maintain our higher standards locally?

------
breadbox
I'm actually surprised that the truth is that close to the story. I've always
assumed that it was largely invented _ex nihilo_. The actual story is actually
not too far off, and is more interesting.

~~~
Panoramix
I'm also surprised, 1 million sounds like a lot of money for such a thing.

~~~
hornetblack
Around $7 million in todays money.

[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+million+USD%2C++in+19...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+million+USD%2C++in+1965)

~~~
XorNot
Conversely, if you short out a panel due to conductive something and the
spacecraft is lost due to the malfunction, it starts to look like maybe you
should've invested more money in developing your flight instruments.

Space is a harsh environment - things sent up there need to be carefully
considered.

------
niels_olson
I used these pens almost exclusively for two years on my first ship. In a
terrestrial environment, these pens are easily outperformed by many, many
other pens. The high viscosity ink is under pressure, so it is _always_ being
expressed. Any imperfection in the ball that finds itself at the edge of the
ball-barrel interface will leave you, in a matter of hours, and sometimes
while writing, with a big ball of black goo on the ball, sometimes on your
fingers, frequently on the paper.

They tend to gunk up and frequently blow out.

If you are going to space, get a few before you go. Otherwise, I highly
recommend the Pilot G-2, specifically the 0.7 mm Navy-Blue (available in
dozens when ordering directly from Pilot).

The G-7 is ubiquitous and writes fast. It's not ideal for all surfaces, but
99.9% of the time, it's the best answer.

~~~
Nicholas_C
My office supply room is stocked with Pilot G-7 pens but I feel like they're
too runny and make my writing sloppier than other pens.

~~~
yannk
+1 to that. I miss the pens of my youth:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bic_Cristal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bic_Cristal)

They would sometimes fail, but I find they would leave just the right amount
of ink on the paper while rolling smoothly on it.

~~~
epsylon
As far as I know, Bic still sells them.

------
tokenadult
Basically blogspam for the 2006 Scientific American story.

[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-
fic...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-nasa-
spen)

~~~
johnx123-up
It's more of "referral link" spam. Wikipedia has concise article on that
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen)
already

~~~
brymaster
Yep. First thing I noticed was he had a referral link to Amazon.

------
kryptiskt
What really grinds my teeth is the version of the story/myth that replaces
weighlessness as the problem with vacuum, as in this post.

~~~
snowwrestler
The problem actually is weightlessness, not vacuum. Normal ballpoint pens rely
on gravity to pull the ink down against the ball, so it can get rolled onto
the paper. Fischer space pens have pressurized cartridges so they work without
gravity (or even against it--they can write upside down here on Earth).

~~~
Goopplesoft
He agrees with you. The quote in the article cites vacuum as the reason.

~~~
snowwrestler
Whoops you're right. I misread! Sorry.

------
trjordan
This week is just full of thinking about pens. I recently read a hilariously
well-researched article [1] about the best pen that _wasn't_ a space pen or
it's $32 ilk. Baader-Meinhof, or something, I suppose.

[1] [http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-
pen/](http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-pen/)

~~~
bentcorner
Just piling on, if you're looking for a good mechanical pencil, I use a Pentel
Kerry mechanical pencil and it's probably the best mechanical pencil I've ever
used. Granted, my experience to date has been with whatever is on the shelf of
the local department store, but IMO it's a great pencil.

[http://amzn.com/B0006SW6YO](http://amzn.com/B0006SW6YO)

~~~
baldfat
I like the Uni Kuru Toga pencils myself. [http://www.jetpens.com/Mechanical-
Pencils/ct/45?ip=24&f=7f53...](http://www.jetpens.com/Mechanical-
Pencils/ct/45?ip=24&f=7f532676bfed4494)

------
imjoshdean
They are fantastic pens, too. I've had one since high school (so...about 8
years now) and I've refilled the ink cartridge all of three times. A very VERY
solid investment for writers.

~~~
cschmidt
I keep a space pen in my pocket at all times. A Field Notebook in my back
pocket, and I'm always ready to write things down.

~~~
ChikkaChiChi
After watching a YouTube of Adam Savage proclaiming the joys of the space pen,
I went out and bought one of my own.

Great decision.

~~~
tannerj
I watched the same video, love Adam and Tested.com, my favorite aspect of the
pen is how small it is when you put the cap on. Fits in my pocket and I can't
tell its there.

Edit:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bypi7h6WOGg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bypi7h6WOGg)
This is the video of stuff Adam Savage carries on a daily basis. Interesting
if you are a gadget nut.

~~~
ChikkaChiChi
I took it another step: [http://imgur.com/JvMbVe4](http://imgur.com/JvMbVe4)

I found a Stanley screwdriver that is great to carry around in my pocket. I
used a bit of Instamorph to build a clip for both and now they don't slide
around in my pocket!

I love this stuff.

------
philip1209
Fun fact: the Fisher pen cartridges come with a Parker adapter. I like
throwing them in the Parker Jotter (a favorite pen of James Bond).

------
zobzu
The Fisher bullet space pen is cheaper ($20) and better design IMO. It's not
the original, but its still the better version ;-)

------
wazoox
A true story, on the other hand, is that when the vacuum cleaner failed on the
Mir space station, some engineer at Baikonur went to the supermarket buy
another ordinary one to be loaded on the next Progress flight. NASA on the
other hand, always used specially designed vacuum cleaners (according to one
of Patrick Baudry's book).

------
herbig
How soon before The Oatmeal does a comic about what a dick the space pen was
to the pencil?

------
ateevchopra
Its amazing how "need" leads to innovation. After the pen, Now the problem is
How to make smartphones for space. How exactly will you make a smartphone, and
all of its sensors like accelerometer work in space ?

~~~
freehunter
NASA is using smartphones in space. See:
[http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=18151&news=Goog...](http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=18151&news=Google+Android+Samsung+Nexus+S+space+shuttle)

(first link I found when I searched)

~~~
zobzu
pretty sure the pen still writes faster :P

------
0xdeadbeefbabe
Self defense pen which uses space pen cartridge: [http://www.bladehq.com/item
--CRKT-Tao-Tactical-Pen--6522](http://www.bladehq.com/item--CRKT-Tao-Tactical-
Pen--6522)

------
socrates1998
The reason a lot of people think this story is true is because our government
wastes a lot of money, so it seems believable.

------
paolord
First time I heard about this was on the Indian movie "3 Idiots". Never did
any research on it but the movie explanation just made sense to me. I didn't
know there's some history behind it.

------
londont
Thanks a _lot_ for ruining such a great story ;)

------
soonghong
what about markers or sharpies?

------
phunsuk_wangdu
All iz well!

------
aviral
Just another marketing stunt.I can believe it. Its all made up !! I mean to
say the NASA story is total made up.

------
chasing
Next you're going to tell me that some woman didn't win a $100mil lawsuit
after dribbling a few drops of lukewarm coffee on herself and that's why we
need reforms that restrict lawsuits on defenseless corporations like
McDonald's.

------
aresant
Kottke says that this story gets "trotted out every time some large
organization introduces some complex, bloated, over-engineered product or
process".

And then he gloriously "debunks" the myth, framing NASA as the unfairly
labeled neerdowell.

The inference is that today's news on gov't waste is also potentially a
"myth".

The reality is that Kottke's post is a red-herring.

What's the 2nd result on Google for "Space Pen"? It is, of course, the snopes
page describing the "hoax".

And have you seen any major (or minor for that matter) news organizations
today using the example of the "space pen" as an indicator of government
waste?

No.

So in fact what we have here is a little allegory delivered in a neatly
wrapped package to instantly defuse further investigation, and let us all go
back to our armchairs.

~~~
DigitalJack
That's your inference. I hear this story once or twice a year. Not from news
agencies but from engineers in meetings in response to our company or some
other company creating a perceived boondoggle.

~~~
jlgreco
Exactly. _" It's like a fucking spacepen"_ is a phrase I've heard more than
once in my career.

