Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission - io9 Comments

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

mcnee — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:11:06 PDT

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.

mcnee

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Meiran — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:34:21 PDT

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?

Meiran

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

MaxTwice — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:52:34 PDT

@Pouncer: It's Magic

MaxTwice

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Pouncer — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:13:06 PDT

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

Pouncer

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Thorfin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:50:55 PDT

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.

Thorfin

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

ceriphim — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:40:13 PDT

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.

ceriphim

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

strider_mt2k — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:35:05 PDT

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

strider_mt2k

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

mikeray — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:24:19 PDT

Take one with me everywhere - an excellent wiki article.

mikeray

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

MrGuilt — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:45:27 PDT

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

MrGuilt

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

MaxTwice — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:22:45 PDT

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

MaxTwice

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Otto-Reimer — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:55:39 PDT

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

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

TheName — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:46:42 PDT

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]

TheName

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Grandjester — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:42:29 PDT

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.

Grandjester

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Grey_Area — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:16:10 PDT

@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!

Grey_Area

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Tits McGee — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:15:07 PDT

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.

Tits McGee

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

cspurgeon — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:03:05 PDT

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.

cspurgeon

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Steve — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:01:55 PDT

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

Steve

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Imipolex_G-Unit — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:53:04 PDT

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

Imipolex_G-Unit

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Grey_Area — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:34:11 PDT

@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

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Mr_Grouchypants — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:14:57 PDT

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.

Mr_Grouchypants

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Angryrider — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:14:01 PDT

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

[en.wikipedia.org]

Angryrider

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

synpro — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:04:56 PDT

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

synpro

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

synpro — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:03:10 PDT

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?

synpro

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:59:57 PDT

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

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

CMG — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:59:20 PDT

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

CMG

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Tiltowait — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:48:13 PDT

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.

Tiltowait

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

CSX321 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:43:56 PDT

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

CSX321

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:43:31 PDT

@harumph: Who is Jerry Seinfeld?

Annalee Newitz

Buy the Pen That Helped Save The Apollo 11 Space Mission

harumph — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:38:45 PDT

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

harumph