A Brief History of Fisher Space Pen

The ballpoint used by astronauts is also a fashion icon meant for everyday use. This is the story of how it came to be.

- REINHARD KARGL

It writes upside down. In pouring rain. In a blizzard's freezing cold and the desert’s blistering heat. You can drop it, you can toss it. It will even write under water. Personal anecdote: 1 forgot a Fisher Bullet Space Pen in a pocket and ran it through the washing machine. Hot. With the spin cycle. Twice. The pen didn't leak ink all over the laundry. It came out clean and worked like before. I was convinced. Since then, I've been carrying at least one Fisher Space Pen at all times.

Only Fisher Space Pen's pressurized ballpoint cartridge system works just about anywhere, any time, and on just about any kind of paper. This article examines why and how it came into existence, and we'll look at the technical marvels and the company making it possible.

We all know the shortcomings of fountain pens when they get knocked around and subjected to drastic pressure and temperature changes. This is why, although the use of ballpoints was pioneered by Britain's Royal Air Force during World War II, pencils have served aviators well into the dawn of the jet age.

As the jet age gave way to the space age, both pencils and regular ballpoints showed serious shortcomings for space flights. The graphite from pencils is an excellent electric conductor, and graphite dust floating around in a capsule at zero-gravity might get into electronics. Making ballpoints write in weightlessness (or upside down) or in heat or cold required an innovative technology. The Fisher company solved the problem with a pressurized ballpoint cartridge.