During the heat of the space race in the 1960s, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided it needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, the Astronaut
Pen
was
developed
at a cost of approximately
$1
million U.S.
The pen
worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on earth.
The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil.
太空圓珠筆
在二十世紀六十年代，美國和蘇聯正處於太空競賽的白熱化階段，美國航空航天局決定研制壹種圓珠筆，以便在太空艙重力為零的環境下仍然可以書寫。經過大量的研發工作，花費了大約壹百萬美元的成本，太空筆終於研制出來了。那支筆果然可以在太空書寫，在回到地球後，作為壹樣新奇的小玩意兒也確實吸引了壹些目光。
而面臨著同樣難題的蘇聯，則選擇了壹支鉛筆。