AnotherA:
When NASA started sending astronauts into space they quickly discovered that ball-point would not work in zero gravity.
To combat this problem, Congress approved a program and NASA scientists spent a decade and over $165 million developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, on almost any surface and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 C.
The Russians used a pencil...
Your taxes are due again in April, 2017.
The NASA scientists spent 200 million dollars reinventing the ball point pen to write in zero gravity. They discovered a very simple device for writing, so simple the Russians had been using it all along, the pencil. A! But the scientists were not to be outdone. They infused graphite with ink.