NASA made special Pen for Space in Millions of dollars but not used Pencil know why

The story is well known. In the 1960s, when NASA sent humans into space, it was found that the ball pens running on the earth do not work because there is no gravity there. In such a situation, NASA made a special pen that could be used in space by spending millions of dollars. But on the other hand, when the Russian cosmonauts faced this problem, they worked with pencils, for which gravity was not required. This question is also asked many times that why NASA did not use pencil instead of wasting so much money. Very few people know that the real story is not like this.

writing problems
Actually the story which is narrated is neither completely true nor completely wrong. When humans first traveled into space, it was soon realized that the ballpoint pens used on Earth in space would not work because they were designed in such a way that they could use gravity.

Why can’t use?
Whenever we try to run the ballpoint pen on the wall, we have trouble. Because in this the ink comes down due to the effect of gravity and only then we can write and when we try to write on the wall, the pen goes in a horizontal position and the ink does not come down if it is not in a vertical position. And we can’t write. The same thing happens in space.

use pencil?
Now it is said that to solve this problem, NASA has spent millions of dollars to make a special pen which can work in microgravity. At the same time, Soviet cosmonauts saved the cost of millions by using ordinary graphite pencils. But this is where the story goes wrong. The fact is that in the beginning all the astronauts, be it American or Soviet astronauts, used pencils.

NASA didn’t make the pen
It is also true that NASA had also spent some money to make pens suitable for use in space. But NASA itself stopped this project when it came to know that money is being spent in this work. But the pen that is used in space was made by an independent private company, Fisher Pen, which is still known as Fisher Space Pen. Once this pen came in front of the world, all American and Soviet astronauts started using it.

but then why not a pencil
It is also important to understand why a special pen design was done for the space. Was the pencil not working, what was the problem with the pencil. Everything floats in space. In such a situation, care is taken that no harmful or inflammable thing starts floating there. Particles of pencil lead can be harmful by spreading in the space. Whereas wood is flammable. The particles of graphite, which are electrically conductive from the microscopic size of a pencil, are also not suitable for spreading in a spacecraft, which was even more important when an Apollo mission failed.

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Tags: Nasa, Research, Science, Space, USA