The Astronaut Pen During the heat of the space race in the 1960s, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided it needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of approximately $1 million U.S. The pen worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on earth. The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil.

在二十世紀(jì)六十年代，美國和蘇聯(lián)正處于太空競賽的白熱化階段，美國航空航天局決定研制一種圓珠筆，以便在太空艙重力為零的環(huán)境下仍然可以書寫。經(jīng)過大量的研發(fā)工作，花費(fèi)了大約一百萬美元的成本，太空筆終于研制出來了。那支筆果然可以在太空書寫，在回到地球后，作為一樣新奇的小玩意兒也確實(shí)吸引了一些目光。而面臨著同樣難題的蘇聯(lián)，則選擇了一支鉛筆。