{"id":18491,"date":"2020-09-08T13:29:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T13:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xatakaciencia.com\/astronomia\/a-pesar-toda-tecnologia-disponible-espacio-se-siguen-usando-boligrafos-normales"},"modified":"2020-09-08T13:29:23","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T13:29:23","slug":"a-pesar-de-toda-la-tecnologia-disponible-en-el-espacio-se-siguen-usando-boligrafos-normales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/forocilac.org\/en\/a-pesar-de-toda-la-tecnologia-disponible-en-el-espacio-se-siguen-usando-boligrafos-normales\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite all the technology available, normal pens are still used in space"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It is often rumored that NASA spent millions of dollars developing a pen that would write in the absence of gravity, but that The Russians solved the problem using a simple pencil<\/strong>. However, It's nothing more than an urban legend<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Right now, on the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts use pencils. Still, concerns about its flammability in a pure oxygen atmosphere and the threat of tiny floating pieces of graphite inspired Paul Fisher<\/strong> to develop the Space Pen<\/strong> in 1965, a fairly cheap invention.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Back to pencils<\/h2>\n

Both American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts initially used pencils on space flights, but those writing instruments were not ideal: pencil tips can chip and break, and have such objects floating around space capsules in near-zero gravity. represents potential harm to astronauts and equipment. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NASA began developing a space pen, but project costs rose, so the project was canceled and the astronauts used pencils like the Russians again<\/a>. NASA never contacted Paul Fisher<\/strong> to develop a pen, just as he did not receive any funding from the government to develop it.<\/p>\n

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\"r\"<\/p>\n

An AG7 Astronaut Space Pen in its case.<\/span>\n <\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The curious thing about the whole thing is that to write in space you don't need a special pen. Sometimes special pens are used, but also normal ones, as As it explains<\/a> in Spanish astronaut Pedro Duke<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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I'm writing these notes on the Soyuz with a cheap pen. Why is that important? It turns out that I have been working in space programs for seventeen years, eleven as an astronaut, and I have always believed, because it was explained to me, that normal pens do not write in space.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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