The story of the development of the American space pen and pencil using Russian - a lie

This classic story of unreasonable allocation of funds stupid and rich Americans and poor Soviet ingenuity of developers has wide popularity. Its essence is as follows: in the heyday of space exploration Americans have spent millions of dollars developing a pen which could write in space. The fact that in the conventional fountain pen in microgravity the paste flows to the balls and floats freely on the rod. Russian scientists have not spent a dime on the solution to this problem - they simply used a pencil ...!

It sounds brilliant, but has no relation to the truth. In fact, the space pen, the infamous «Space Pen», was developed by a private company, so that none of the competing countries did not spent on it. These pens are bought and the United States and the Soviet Union for its astronauts for about $ 2 apiece.

As for the use of the pencil, it is impossible for several reasons: firstly, it must be sharpened, then the smallest particles of wood will float in zero gravity on the ship, and secondly, mining products are easily broken, thirdly, pencils made of wood, then there are easily inflammable material, which creates an additional hazard for astronauts.

via factroom.ru