isn't this the same pen jack klompas gave to jerry seinfeld?

@harumph: Who is Jerry Seinfeld?

And then there's that old joke that the Russians simply used a pencil. Or is it a joke?

I've got a subsequent model that an uncle gave me as a pressie years ago. Works as advertised, though sadly I haven't tested it in microgravity.

i have two fisher pens and i keep losing and finding one of them. it always finds its way home.

I used to have one of these pens. They sold them at the gift shop in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Ah yes, the Space Pen. I remember reading somewhere that during the space race, NASA had spent a million dollars on the development of this pen so that they had something to write with in space. The Russian solution? Pencil!

Does anyone know if that's true?

@CSX321: You beat me to it. It'd be awesome if it were true!

I'd rather get the Inanimate Carbon Rod that saved Homer.

[en.wikipedia.org]

According to Snopes, the Americans initially used pencils as well. But the lead would apparently cause a hazard when it broke off and started floating around inside the capsule. Plus pencils were too flammable for the 100% oxygen atmosphere.

@synpro:
@CSX321: The Soviet space pencil would appear to be an urban legend. Pity, it really sounds right, da?
[www.snopes.com]
[www.sciam.com]
[en.wikipedia.org]

@Grey_Area: So, Americans still have a shot at putting the first pencil in space? Fuck yeah!

@Annalee Newitz: are you bein legit w/that comment annalee newitz

I carry one of these pens all the time... not because of the "writes upside down" bollocks, but because its small dense shape means the pen stays put in my pocket without falling out and without jabbing me in the thigh. Ergonomically, that's a big win.

I got my first Fisher Space Pen when I was seven and my dad took me to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. I loved it even more than the astronaut ice cream I got at the Kennedy Space Center when I was six. It lasted a lot longer, too.

@Imipolex_G-Unit: Yup. And since our biggest competition in the current space race may be China I think we have a serious advantage over their zero-g calligraphy brush!

A co-woker was just showing off his (Space Pen) a few weeks ago, so I went home and dug out mine. Been in it's case for damn near 25 years and it wrote just fine.

Fisher Space Pens rock. I'm currently putting the new Millenium II's abilities to the test: all the normal coolness of a Space Pen but it also claims it'll never run out of ink (it's expensive but a family member is a SP fetishist and showers everyone with them).
[thewritersedge.com]

My grandfather, who was in mission control for the Apollo Missions, use to regale me with tales of the astronauts computing their own trajectory in the modules using these pens and a slide rule.

That was the age of true bad asses, hot shot test pilots doing high end calculus in failing capsules doing figures to come home safely.

It's a shame that history will probably only remember the pens.

@Otto-Reimer: Ghost in the Graveyaaaaaaaaard!!!!! =)

@Grandjester: I have a pen from 1890 that writes just fine.

Take one with me everywhere - an excellent wiki article.

I'm holding out for the Three Stooges version that writes under whipped cream!

I got one of these from my Dad when I was like 10, they're great pens for sure. Slip out of your pocket a little too easily, but work wonderfully and last forever.

Actually, the Fisher space pens are available in a variety of prices. Fisher has a web site and sells pens and refills online. Countdown Creations, a store near JSC in Huston also sells Fisher pens as well as a lot of other cool space-geek stuff. They also sell online.
I have used a cheap ($7.95) pen for years. My job sometimes involves working in a freezer operating at minus 40 degrees Celsius. That pen has never failed me yet.

I love my Space Pen. It makes me happy every time I write with it.

@Pouncer: It's Magic

I heard the story about the pen saving them and helping repair that circuit was actually an urban legend itself. Anybody got a source saying yes or no?

I used to carry one of these, the cap is large, when put on the back it's a full length pen. Capped it's half-size and fits on the front pocket very easily. It always wrote just great, even after I dropped it in the garage once and backed out over it before I realized I had dropped it.

I tried a cheaper one once after having lost my original... it wrote ok, but just didn't have the nice heft in my hand the original did.

I went to a multi-tip, stylus/pen/pencil when I got my first PDA though.