When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity.
To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300 C.
The Russians used a pencil.
Soviet space shuttleIn 1988, the Soviet Union launched its first space shuttle, Buran ("Snowstorm"), unmanned, on its first and only orbital flight. Russia authorized its shuttle program in 1976 in response to the U.S. Space Shuttle program. Buran's only orbital flight was unmanned, as the life support system had not been checked out and the CRT displays had no software installed. The Buran was launched on the powerful Energiya booster into a 250 km orbit. Its computer's memory limitations limited the flight to 2 orbits in 206-min. before reentry and a safe automatic touchdown at Tyuratum. Afterwards, the project's funding was cut, and eventually cancelled (1993). Two other partially completed Buran shuttles were dismantled at their production site in Nov 1995. |
