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Russia's Proton Rocket, Which Predates Apollo, Will Finally Stop Flying (arstechnica.com)
The Russian-manufactured Proton rocket that has been traveling into space since before humans landed on the Moon will finally stop flying. "In an interview with a Russian publication, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said production of the Proton booster will cease as production shifts to the new Angara booster," reports Ars Technica. "No new Proton contracts are likely to be signed." From the report: First launched in 1965, the rocket was initially conceived of as a booster to fly two-person crews around the Moon, as the Soviet Union sought to beat NASA into deep space. Indeed, some of its earliest missions launched creatures, including two turtles, to the Moon and back.
The decision will bring down the curtain on one of the longest-used and most versatile rockets in world history. As the United States developed the space shuttle in the 1970s and began flying it in the 1980s, the Russian space agency saw the opportunity to commercialize the Proton rocket, and by the end of the 1990s, the booster became a major moneymaker for the Russian space industry. With a capacity of 22.8 tons to low-Earth orbit, it became a dominant player in the commercial market for heavier satellites. An increasing rate of failures, combined with the rise of SpaceX's cheaper Falcon 9 rockets, "have caused the number of Proton launches in a given year to dwindle from eight or so to just one or two," adds Ars. "This shrinking market has opened the door to the Angara rocket, which has the advantage of not using environmentally hazardous fuel for each of its stages..."
According to Wikipedia, the new design driven to create a rocket built and launched entirely inside of Russia, since the existing rockets rely on components and infrastructure spread across multiple countries with the dissolution of the USSR.
Soyuz is both the name of a rocket and the name of a crewed vehicle. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_(rocket_family) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_(spacecraft). The Russians sometimes have named rockets after the first or most prominent payload of the rocket in question.
Urban legend. NASA didn't spent a dime on that, the pen was privately developed (Fisher) and astronauts bought them for $10. Fisher made a profit on the pens over time and is still selling them today. Russia used them later too. Pencils in space are not a good idea anyway, the core contains graphite and broken off pieces that float around can cause shortcuts in equipment.
But as always with these legends they make a good story and seem never to die because people who prefer a wrong good story over true stories are plenty.