Early astronauts used pencils, because pens and ballpoint pens could not be used in weightlessness, and pencils were the only choice.
However, after the pencil lead is broken, it floats in weightless space, which may drift into the nose and eyes, or cause a short circuit. In addition, pencil lead and wood are easy to burn rapidly in pure oxygen environment, which is extremely dangerous.
Therefore, engineer Paul C. Fisher invented a high-quality ballpoint pen in 1965, which can be used in space environment without oil leakage and fading, commonly known as space pen.
Extended data:
Writing characteristics of space pen
1, which can be written at any angle or even backwards;
2. You can write in a weightless vacuum;
3. Can write in extremely cold environment (minus 35℃ or even lower);
4. You can write at boiling temperature (12 1℃ or even higher);
5. You can write on a wet surface or underwater;
6. You can write on almost any surface without damaging the pen, such as oil paper, film, glass, metal, wood blocks, stones, etc.
7, no oil leakage, no volatilization, recycling, in line with the trend of environmental protection;
8. It won't fade. Can be irradiated by strong light 100 hours, stored in boiling water 100 hours, and stored below 30 degrees 100 years. As long as the written materials have not deteriorated, they can still be read.
9. Writing is very smooth, and the shelf life is as long as 100 years. The writing time of different pen types is more than three times that of ordinary pens, usually reaching 1 year or even decades;
10, all weather, high reliability, durability and wide adaptability. Some designated users of American space pens include: NASA, FBI, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, Thunderbird Air Show Team, Diving Team, Everest Expedition, and Congress Gift Shop.
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