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My go to pen is the CountyComm Embassy Pen Loaded with a Fine Point black Ink Fisher Space Pen Refill. I have had mine nearly two years now and it's easily the best pen I have owned. I'm hardly an expert on the subject but it really fits my needs.

The most common complaint is the cap does not seat to the back of the pen. This is an issue for some and to others a trivial problem. If you buy the propaganda, holding onto the cap will remind you to get your pen back when you lend it out.

Wikipedia
NASA*
About
Spacepen
The Space Review
BBC History Magazin

If you've done the research provide an opposing source.

* NASA admits that they originally ordered pencils for over $100 each but backtracked. Latch on to that if you want to bash wasteful government spending, but remember they did respond to the public backlash.

Um.. you could go right to the source on that one. It's not like fisher went out of business or something. It's right there on their web site.

Further, You tell me a better way to eliminate graphite dust, wood shavings, and eraser muck in zero gravity (or would you prefer to breathe that crap and let it get into everything causing shorts and sparks?) than to just use a pen in the first place.

2005 - Sadly, Paul Fisher passed away at the age of 93. The company continues under the leadership of his son, Cary Fisher and almost 100 seasoned employees, many who have been with the company for many decades.

Now that turned out to be an unfortunate name....

Actually, they did use a pencil, and so did the Russians. A private company invented the space pen, and sold them to NASA. I have the bullet model, which (according to wikipedia) is also on display at the museum of modern art. It is a great pen, one of the smoothest with which I have had the pleasure of writing, not to mention its simple but elegant form.

Umm i don't think retail for a Fisher Space pen has been anywhere near $400 (even if you get a goldplated "millennium pen" direct retail US$130.00) but a Fisher doesn't burn (just about the only thing that isn't metal on them is the ink) you can in fact buy the same pen used in space http://www.spacepen.com/Public/Products/AstronautP en/index.cfm

Dear Slashdot, I keep buying ballpoint pens that don't write well. I have to keep scribbling on scratch paper to make them work. What kind of pen should I get so I don't have this problem?

The pen that can write upside down (likely the Fisher Space Pen) was completely privately developed and was not funded or supported by the government or space program.

Perhaps the reason you don't see many spinoffs from the space program is that they are literally all around you. You can't see the forest for the trees, so to speak. Miniaturization is often quoted, and it is quite true. There are many other examples, many in medicine and industry.

I think there may be a few things you have overlooked but they are easy enough to find.

Jim

If I keep a pencil in my pocket I usually get stabbed when I sit down.

I hated this too until I got a Fisher Bullet Pen. At US$18 it's a little pricy, but it's a "normal" sized, hefty quality pen when it's open, and a tiny, rounded, pocket-friendly steel capsule when it's closed.

For example, the Americans spend millions to design a pen that will write in zero-g, the Russians use a pencil. The russians have an elegant solution, but the Americans now have a new understanding of chemistry, a new understanding of flow-dynamics, perhaps a new manufacturing process for fine detail, plus detailed experience of zero-G. The Russians have invested nothing and gained nothing in their solution.

I know you didn't state it, but you implied it, and it's not true - NASA didn't spend any money to design these. And the Fisher pen company sold them to the Russian space program not too long after they began selling them to NASA.

The classic example is the story of the space pen. Ballpoint pens don't work in space, so NASA spent millions to develop a "space pen" which had a pressurized ink compartment, creating a pen that could write in zero-G.

To solve this problem on Soviet space shots, they used pencils.

Ok, so that story is apocryphal(more about the actual story of the space pen is here -- in fact Fischer developed it before NASA needed it to solve earth-bound ballpoint issues), but it does illustrate the difference in attitude between the US and Russian space engineers.

NASA tends to over-engineer everything while the Russians tend to be scrappy. When you have unlimited amounts of money to throw at the problem, as we did during the Apollo days, I'll take over-engineered any day of the week. When you don't have unlimited money, scrappy starts to look better and better...

Duh, the space pen.

Now we can all write upside down.

From the Snopes "Urban Legend" web site: "NASA never asked Paul C. Fisher to produce a pen. When the astronauts began to fly, like the Russians, they used pencils, but the leads sometimes broke and became a hazard by floating in the [capsule's] atmosphere where there was no gravity. They could float into an eye or nose or cause a short in an electrical device. In addition, both the lead and the wood of the pencil could burn rapidly in the pure oxygen atmosphere. Paul Fisher realized the astronauts needed a safer and more dependable writing instrument, so in July 1965 he developed the pressurized ball pen, with its ink enclosed in a sealed, pressurized ink cartridge. Fisher sent the first samples to Dr. Robert Gilruth, Director of the Houston Space Center. The pens were all metal except for the ink, which had a flash point above 200C. The sample Space Pens were thoroughly tested by NASA. They passed all the tests and have been used ever since on all manned space flights, American and Russian. All research and development costs were paid by Paul Fisher. No development costs have ever been charged to the government.

From the Fisher Space Pen web site: The cartridge was pressurized with nitrogen so that it didn't rely on gravity to make it work. It was dependable in freezing cold and desert heat. It could also write underwater and upside down. The trick was to have the ink flow when you wanted it to, and not to flow the rest of the time, a problem Fisher solved. Fisher's development couldn't have come at a more opportune time. The space race was on, and the astronauts involved in the Mercury and Gemini missions had been using pencils to take notes in space since standard ball points did not work in zero gravity. The Fisher cartridge did work in the weightlessness of outer space and the astronauts, beginning with the October, 1968 Apollo 7 mission began using the Fisher AG-7 Space Pen and cartridge developed in 1966.

For more information about the history of the ball point pen, go here: http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo30/history_b allpoint_pen.htm

Wrt to smooth lines, no bleed, waterproofness and quick dry you should check out fisher space pens. They're expensive, but they're nearly indestructible, and there are some REALLY nice looking fisher pens available. Go with the blue ink though, the other ink colors are "lumpier".

They even sell pens with lifetime guarantees (if the pen ever runs out or breaks in your lifetime, you get a free replacement).

Lots of cool stuff was developed that has found it's way into YOUR house. Everything from ink pens

Ink pens were invented WAY before 1960, BALL POINT pens themselves were invented way back in 1935.

You may be thinking of the SPACE PEN, which most people DO NOT have in their house.

Details here

Although I'm not sure if they're called space pens because they are used in space or because they are shiny and silver, they do work really rather well. Mine worked well when writing on report sheets upside down under machines in the factory, or in the wet outside.

Note that I only use past tense because I managed to lose the pen. Bah. I bet they can't invent one immune from that!

I actually use the Millenium space pen from Fischer pens.

It will never run out of ink, writes in a vacuum (thanks to a pressurized ink cartridge), writes underwater, at extreme temperatures. Kinda cool. Will I ever write in those conditions. Not likely, but for the price, a pen that will never run out of ink is worth it.

http://www.spacepen.com/

Writes in zero gravity/upside down, in freezing cold , under water but best of all...

Can fit inside your front pants pocket (for when your shirt has no front pocket).

Oddly enough, it was a Seinfeld episode that turned me on to these.

Not only is this an urban legend as already noted for the fact that floating particles of graphite would be bad, but also that NASA nor the US government had anything to do with the development of the pen. It was developed entirely in-house by Fisher. A few samples were sent to NASA for suitability testing. The only thing NASA had to do with the pen was buy it and issue it. The entire story is on Fisher's website.

If you get the silver one, it's easy to have it engraved. I carried one such for many years. When I lost it, I immediately bought another one.

I personally like my Fisher Space Pen a lot. I have the black bullet model. I picked it up for $15. Its nice and small and fits in your pocket, but when you take the cap off and put it on the end it becomes a full size pen. Oh yeah, and it writes upside down, under water, in freezing temperatures and all other kinds of conditions. I've never actually tested it under watter or in freezing temperatures, but it does write upside down. It writes pretty well as far as pens go. Its supposed to write like 3 miles or something. The refils aren't very expensive either.

I have a Fisher Spacepen, which is great if you like writing upsidedown. It's expensive, but I can store it for months and then use it again with no problem.

I must admit that for the most part I do write with an old Staedtler Mars 780 mechanical drafting pencil that I used in high school over 20 years ago. Or else I just pick up whatever pen just happens to be within my reach.

The Fisher Space Pen has pressurized ink and is waterproof. You can write upside down and in zero G. You can even write underwater.

They are american made out of turned metal, and have a presurised ink cartrige that will work under water, and in the weightlessness of space.

Only $10 to $60 depending on model.

It's the uber-pens.

More info h

The pen (well, the ink cartridge) is pressurized with Nitrogen, so the pen writes at any angle. The ink will write on almost any surface, including grease, and wet paper.

I too laughed at the development cost of the pen... but one of my friends works in Aero/Astro. He told me that they probably didn't want to use pencils because of the graphite dust.

It's the only pen I use for technical stuff - it writes on PCBs. American ingenuity at its finest, which we invented for use in a zero-g environment. The Russians used pencils.

"If it ain't broke, you ain't doing yer job!" - QA Manager's motto.

This thing rocks I have had it for around 4 years now, it writes upside down and easily on a wall.

Fisher Space Pen

Only bad part is I have to order the ink cause the refills are pressurized. Great pen though.

Pencils are not the ideal solution, because points break off and float into electrical wiring where bad things can happen. However, US astronauts used them through the Mercury and Gemini programs. The Fisher Space Pen was developed as a private venture, and then sold to NASA by the Fisher Space Co.. Robert

(remember when we spent millions coming up with a pen that would write in zero-G and the Russians just used pencils?)

The notion the space pen R&D was paid by taxpayers is an urban legend, NASA didnt pay for the research, the Fisher pen co did and owns the patent. But NASA does buy em, but not nearly as many as space enthusiast do.

Space Pen History

spacepen

Dam another myth exploded. It wasn't even Parker it was Fisher.
Hears the link

I'm sure you know by now that the Space Pen was developed by a private individual, and after it had been proven, NASA bought some.

Up until then, they used pencils.

BTW, the Space Pens are fucking awesome. Being able to write on a vertical surface is just sweet. I ordered one from the Fischer pen company (Paul Fischer was the one who developed the Space Pen way back when, using his own money).

In this particular example, I don't have enough facts to compare the two cases: for example, did the Russians experience any direct problems from using pencils and crayons, such as written material becoming smudged? If not, then it might be argued that developing a space pen was overkill, in that limited scenario. But I'm arguing that the ramifications of such decisions can go far beyond the context in which they're made. That's why architects and designers with vision can often make a big difference - because they look at the "requirements" in a much broader context, and end up creating something that provides far greater benefits in the long run.

Kennedy did this when he started the moon program - the spinoffs from space research have always been a major benefit. I often do design work on a pad while lying down, for example, where the pen ends up upside down - and guess which pen works best in this situation? The Fisher Space Pen. According to the Fisher site, these pens are now used on Russian space missions, too. So the space pen seems to have been a good investment - after all, if the pencils and crayons were good enough, why would the Russians have switched? Besides, the Fisher company creates economic value, providing jobs and a useful product.

So it isn't really about whether a device to deposit arbitrarily liquids was needed. It's about the benefits that fully addressing a problem can bring, and thinking of wider applications and benefits, as opposed to coming up with something that's simply minimally acceptable. If you always only produce what's minimally acceptable, your progress will ultimately be self-limiting.

In hindsight, there was a requirement to create a space pen. The smart people are the ones who could tell that ahead of time, instead of simply saying "we'll use pencils".

For goodness sake, will people stop posting this trolling story? As has been said before this is misleading.

For the first few missions, the Soviets did use pencils. Then the Soviets went to Fisher (the American company that made the pens) and bought several cases. The reason is that pencils produce a lot of graphite dust. When you are locked in a room the size of a telephone booth for a week, you don't want graphite dust floating around, getting into your lungs, eyes and your equipment.

In December of 1967 Paul C. Fisher, the inventer of the pen, sold 400 of them to NASA for $2.95 each.

And now, for some silly reason, they think they can get $40.00 a pop (!) for them.

For the first few missions, yes. Then the Soviets went to Fisher (the American company that made the pens) and bought several cases. The reason is that pencils produce a lot of graphite dust. When you are locked in a room the size of a telephone booth for a week, you don't want graphite dust floating around, getting into your lungs, eyes and your equipment.

The following was posted frequently to sci.space for the past 10+ years. I'm uncertain of it's origin. Perhaps it's relevant here...

Bruce