Earlier, wrote

I can remember two things that the public got their hands on that were
developed for the Space Program: Tang and a pen that works upside
down.

I recall someone mentioning that the Russians also realised that a
normal pen would not work in outer space, they gave their astronauts a
pencil....

The Fisher space pen was developed privately by Fisher using their own
funds.

The problem with pencils is that when you write with them, it
liberates conductive graphite dust, and occasionally bits of solid
graphite of non-negligible size. They also burn like freakin' roman
candles in the presence of ignition and pure o2. Not a problem when
you're in an 80/20 atmosphere and gravity pulls the smegma onto the
floor where it belongs. In a 100% o2 enviro surrounded by switches and
electronics... I'll take the thing that cost NASA less than $3/unit
and does't burn, thanks.

Snopes has a UL article on it he

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

Thanks again, and best regards to all

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com