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Subject: "Zero Gravity" Previous topic | Next topic
fishstickFri Jan-16-04 09:21 PM
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"Zero Gravity"


          

ZERO GRAVITY


When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly
discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity.

To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and
$12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero gravity,
upside down, on almost any surface including glass and at
temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 C.

The Russians used a pencil.

Enjoy paying your taxes--they're due again.

  

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Replies to this topic
Subject Author Message Date ID
RE: Zero Gravity
Jan 16th 2004
1
RE: Zero Gravity
Jan 16th 2004
2
      RE: Zero Gravity
Jan 16th 2004
3
           RE: Zero Gravity
Jan 16th 2004
4
                RE: Zero Gravity
Jan 16th 2004
5
                     RE: Zero Gravity
Jan 16th 2004
6
RE: Zero Gravity
Jan 17th 2004
7
RE: Zero Gravity
Jan 17th 2004
8
      RE: Zero Gravity
Jan 17th 2004
9
           RE: Zero Gravity
Jan 18th 2004
10

MadDadFri Jan-16-04 10:14 PM
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#1. "RE: Zero Gravity"
In response to fishstick (Reply # 0)
Fri Jan-16-04 10:16 PM by MadDad

          

Snoped again. FALSE!!!!

http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp


maybe this post would have been better titled "Zero Brainwaves"

  

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KJTFri Jan-16-04 10:35 PM
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#2. "RE: Zero Gravity"
In response to MadDad (Reply # 1)


  

          

I've used a number of Fisher Space pens over the years - not in outer space, of course, nor in the conditions described in the Snopes article. It's a fine pen, very comfortable to grip. It will write upside down and on glass but for writing across a big splat of warm butter dripped on a page from a toasted Thomas' English muffin, it wasn't any better than a cheap Bic, worse in fact.

Jim.

  

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MadDadFri Jan-16-04 10:40 PM
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#3. "RE: Zero Gravity"
In response to KJT (Reply # 2)


          

> but for writing
>across a big splat of warm butter dripped on a page from a
>toasted Thomas' English muffin, it wasn't any better than a
>cheap Bic, worse in fact.
>
>Jim.


Hell, give NASA 12 billion and they will figure that out!

  

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fishstickFri Jan-16-04 11:26 PM
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#4. "RE: Zero Gravity"
In response to MadDad (Reply # 3)


          

I hate being snoped. It makes me feel dirty.

  

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MadDadFri Jan-16-04 11:32 PM
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#5. "RE: Zero Gravity"
In response to fishstick (Reply # 4)


          

sorry, dude. It's a tough job, and somebody had to do it.

  

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hal9000Fri Jan-16-04 11:48 PM
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#6. "RE: Zero Gravity"
In response to MadDad (Reply # 5)


          

And with four exclamation points even. I think you enjoyed it a little too much.

  

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ShellySat Jan-17-04 02:47 AM
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#7. "RE: Zero Gravity"
In response to fishstick (Reply # 0)


  

          

Funny but untrue. You too should learn to check facts before spreading the BS you read on the internet.

From Snopes:

Origins: The
lesson of this anecdote is a valid one, that we sometimes expend a great deal of time, effort, and money to create a "high-tech" solution to a problem, when a perfectly good, cheap, and simple solution is right before our eyes. The anecdote offered above isn't a real example of this syndrome, however. Fisher did ultimately develop a pressurized pen for use by NASA astronauts (now known as the famous "Fisher Space Pen"), but both American and Soviet space missions initially used pencils, NASA did not seek out Fisher and ask them to develop a "space pen," Fisher did not charge NASA for the cost of developing the pen, and the Fisher pen was eventually used by both American and Soviet astronauts.

Here's how Fisher themselves described it:

NASA never asked Paul C. Fisher to produce a pen. When the astronauts began to fly, like the Russians, they used pencils, but the leads sometimes broke and became a hazard by floating in the atmosphere where there was no gravity. They could float into an eye or nose or cause a short in an electrical device. In addition, both the lead and the wood of the pencil could burn rapidly in the pure oxygen atmosphere. Paul Fisher realized the astronauts needed a safer and more dependable writing instrument, so in July 1965 he developed the pressurized ball pen, with its ink enclosed in a sealed, pressurized ink cartridge. Fisher sent the first samples to Dr. Robert Gilruth, Director of the Houston Space Center. The pens were all metal except for the ink, which had a flash point above 200°C. The sample Space Pens were thoroughly tested by NASA. They passed all the tests and have been used ever since on all manned space flights, American and Russian. All research and developement costs were paid by Paul Fisher. No development costs have ever been charged to the government.

Because of the fire in Apollo 1, in which three Astronauts died, NASA required a writing instrument that would not burn in a 100% oxygen atmosphere. It also had to work in the extreme conditions of outer space:
In a vacuum.
With no gravity.
In hot temperatures of +150°C in sunlight and also in the cold shadows of space where the temperatures drop to -120°C
(NASA tested the pressurized Space Pens at -50°C, but because of the residential heat in the pen it also writes for many minutes in the cold shadows.)

Fisher spent over one million dollars in trying to perfect the ball point pen before he made his first successful pressurized pens in 1965. Samples were immediately sent to Dr. Robert Gilruth, Manager of the Houston Space Center, where they were thoroughly tested and approved for use in Space in September 1965. In December 1967 he sold 400 Fisher Space Pens to NASA for $2.95 each.

Lead pencils were used on all Mercury and Gemini space flights and all Russian space flights prior to 1968. Fisher Space Pens are more dependable than lead pencils and cannot create the hazard of a broken piece of lead floating through the gravity-less atmosphere.

Shelly

  

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fishstickSat Jan-17-04 08:38 PM
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#8. "RE: Zero Gravity"
In response to Shelly (Reply # 7)


          

Yeah, I read that from the post above. But thanks for the tongue lashing you cranky ole bastard. To err is human. To not err is Shelly.

  

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ShellySat Jan-17-04 10:32 PM
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#9. "RE: Zero Gravity"
In response to fishstick (Reply # 8)


  

          

You might be surprised how much I err I'm old and crafty enough to cover my tracks.

Shelly

  

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fishstickSun Jan-18-04 01:17 AM
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#10. "RE: Zero Gravity"
In response to Shelly (Reply # 9)


          

If I had half the knowledge you've gained over the years, I would be a very dangerous person.

  

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