Ordinary ballpoint pens really do work in space. The revelation by Spanish astronaut Pedro Duque explodes the western myth that terrestrial pens do not write in low gravity.
On his first space shuttle flight, in 1998, Duque used an expensive NASA pen with a pressurised ink cartridge. Before his latest flight on a Soyuz craft lifted off, however, he was stunned to see a Russian crew member attach a bit of string to a cheap ballpoint for them to write with once they were in orbit.
The Russians, it turns out, have always used ballpoint pens in space. Until…
