When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside-down, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 C.
The Russians used a pencil. Your taxes are due again--enjoy paying them.
Enough said, huh?
(And fyi, if you were slightly skeptical like I was, go google 'space pen' and see what wikipedia has to say about it.....it doesn't give a cost of invention, but it does give all the specifications and how it's built....I'd link it, but hey, you've gotta put out some effort, too. :P)
But you have to consider -- NASA were willing to go the distance and do everything possible to not only overcome the obstacle, but to "fix" everything that was originally wrong with the pen. "It doesn't write on glass? What kind of crap is that? Even my Sharpie writes on glass!"
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