Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 21:48:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alexander Zarechnak <cawa@wam.umd.edu>
To: ken gosier <kgosier@wam.umd.edu>
Subject: FWD>space pen (fwd)


 During  the heat of the space race in the 1960's, the U.S. National 
 Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 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 about US $1 million. 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.