At breakfast today my boyfriend said, “Did I ever tell you about the special pen NASA developed so that astronauts could write in space?”
I told him I already knew about the Space Pen, ‘cuz I’d seen it advertised in the back of my dad’s Popular Mechanics magazines as a kid. (I also wanted a spy camera, and one of those hovercraft kits they advertised. I could easily imagine flying over the wheat fields behind our house in a hovercraft – so cool!)
“The Russians faced the same problem with their space program,” my boyfriend continued, unwittingly interrupting my wheat field hovercraft reveries.
“Huh?”
“Writing in space.”
“Oh, yeah. Tough to keep ink flowing in micro-gravity,” I said, trying to save face by sounding knowledgeable. (Full disclosure: this is my go-to response when covering for daydreaming.)
“Right. Except that, instead of spending millions of dollars developing a Space Pen, the Russians approached the problem differently.”
“What do you mean?”
“They gave their astronauts pencils.”
So with that in mind, I tried not to spend my day building Space Pens when a pencil would suffice. Not sure if I succeeded, but I crossed a few things off the old to-do list – with a pencil!
Tui Snider is an author, speaker, and photographer who specializes in North Texas travel, cemetery symbols, and haunted lore. As she puts it, “I used to write fiction – but then, I moved to Texas!”
Snider’s best-selling books include Paranormal Texas , Understanding Cemetery Symbols, and 100 Things to Do in Dallas - Fort Worth Before You Die.
Snider has several more books in progress, and enjoys connecting with writers and readers all over the globe through social media, her newsletter and her website: TuiSnider.com.
Things should be simple, but not too simple. Eventually the Russians used the Space Pen as well as NASA. At least it wasn’t NASA’s million dollars:
Hi Marty, Thanks for commenting. I haven’t seen you here before. :) I didn’t realize the Russians wound up using the Space Pen, too. I will have to look into this more. Also, I’m not clear on what you mean with, “At least it wasn’t NASA’s million dollars.” What do you mean? Thanks, Tui
Or, “give that astronaut a pencil.” I like that, too.
Brilliant! I think at my next business meeting I will use the phrase “tough to keep ink flowing in micro-gravity” to signify they are over budget and thinking too hard. Love it. Great post.
Brook: I’m liking, “give that astronaut a pencil.” I think we’re onto something! ~Tui
I love this!
Thanks, Jyllian and Melody! :)
Brilliant!
This is one of those entries that makes you stop for a moment, think a bit, then laugh and carry it with you all day.