"That's a great story, but not true. Parker developed the pen on their own, and then sold it to NASA. NASA was already using pencils, but there was the worry of graphic dust getting into things and causing problems with delicate electronic instruments. And then there was Apollo 1. Also, the Russians use the space pen as well. "

As I said a story.

One thing that is fact is the Russians are much more adept at manufacturing items that can be fixed with a hammer rather than high tech maintenance.

Case in point the Mig family of figher jets vs the USA's hightech wonder jets. No less effective but more hardy. The PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER. system could not afford to manufacture high maintenance equipment.

While the story is 80% myth it still has a lesson.

No doubt where the KISS principal came about.

Flipper