Why pens dont work in space

The Fisher Space Pens made their debut in on the Apollo 7 mission and have been involved in all manned missions since.

So, the short reason is that astronauts only used pencils when they were waiting for something better to come along. As soon as it did, they switched and never looked back. Even the Russians thought it was a good idea. Have you got a Big Question you'd like us to answer? If so, let us know by emailing us at bigquestions mentalfloss.

Public Domain , Flickr. It's also entirely false. In , the pen was used on the Apollo 7 Mission www. Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov here explains from space, in a video here by the Russian space agency Roscosmos, that Soviet astronauts used to use wax pencils but they started to use the Fisher Space Pen shortly after NASA and have been using them ever since.

The video, from March 31, , shows him holding and using the pen in space. Kud-Sverchkov shows that the Russian astronauts also use ordinary automatic pencils with a thick core and marker pens, like Sharpies.

Timelines on the Fisher Space Pen website www. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. The tips flaked and broke off, drifting in microgravity where they could potentially harm an astronaut or equipment. And pencils are flammable--a quality NASA wanted to avoid in onboard objects after the Apollo 1 fire.

Paul C. None of this investment money came from NASA's coffers--the agency only became involved after the pen was dreamed into existence. In Fisher patented a pen that could write upside-down, in frigid or roasting conditions down to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit or up to degrees F , and even underwater or in other liquids. If too hot, though, the ink turned green instead of its normal blue.

Because of the earlier mechanical pencil fiasco, NASA was hesitant. But, after testing the space pen intensively, the agency decided to use it on spaceflights beginning in Unlike most ballpoint pens, Fisher's pen does not rely on gravity to get the ink flowing. The cartridge is instead pressurized with nitrogen at 35 pounds per square inch.

This pressure pushes the ink toward the tungsten carbide ball at the pen's tip. The ink, too, differs from that of other pens. Fisher used ink that stays a gellike solid until the movement of the ballpoint turns it into a fluid.

The pressurized nitrogen also prevents air from mixing with the ink so it cannot evaporate or oxidize.