That is an urban legend, Paul Fisher invented the pen which can write in space or underwater, without any government funding then sold it to NASA. The lauded cheap pencil is a fire hazard from wood shavings and the graphite dust floating in zero G can ruin equipment, which is why the Russians bought several of those pens about 5 years after NASA put them into use.
That is an urban legend, Paul Fisher invented the pen which can write in space or underwater, without any government funding then sold it to NASA. The lauded cheap pencil is a fire hazard from wood shavings and the graphite dust floating in zero G can ruin equipment, which is why the Russians bought several of those pens about 5 years after NASA put them into use.