Soviets just used pencils. In reality, NASA began to develop a space pen, but when development costs skyrocketed the project was abandoned and astronauts went back to using pencils, along with the Soviets. However, the claim that NASA spent millions on the Space Pen is incorrect, as the Fisher pen was developed using private capital, not government funding. The development of the thixotropic ink cost Paul Fisher around $1 million (equivalent to $ in ). NASA – and the Soviets – eventually began purchasing such pens. NASA programs previously used pencils (for example a 1965 order of mechanical pencils) but because of the substantial dangers that broken pencil tips and graphite dust pose to electronics in zero gravity, the flammable nature of wood present in pencils, and the inadequate quality documentation produced by non-permanent or smeared recordkeeping, a better solution was needed. Russian cosmonauts used pencils, and grease pencils on plastic slates until also adopting a space pen in 1969 with a purchase of 100 units for use on all future missions. NASA never approached Paul Fisher to develop a pen, nor did Fisher receive any government funding for the pen's development. Fisher invented it independently and then, in 1965, asked NASA to try it. After extensive testing, NASA decided to use the pens in future Apollo missions. Subsequently, in 1967 it was reported that NASA purchased approximately 400 pens for $2.95 apiece (equivalent to $ each in ). In 2008, Gene Cernan's Apollo 17-flown space pen sold in a Heritage auction for US$23,900. See also List of pen types, brands and companies References External links Fisher Space Pen Co. The Billion Dollar Space Pen Legend debunked (Urban Legends Reference Pages) Did Biros really revolutionise writing BBC News 2006-11-23 NASA Specification for writing instruments 1973-06 Nasa History "Pen Name: Having perfected the ball-point, Paul Fisher wrote a plan to save the world" , by Anthony DeBartolo, Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, 1991 American inventions Pens Urban legends