太空圓珠筆

　　During the heat of the space race in the 1960s, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided it needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, the Astronaut

　　Pen

　　was

　　developed

　　at a cost of approximately

　　$1

　　million U.S.

　　The pen

　　worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on earth.

　　The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil.

　　在二十世紀六十年代，美國和蘇聯(lián)正處于太空競賽的白熱化階段，美國航空航天局決定研制一種圓珠筆，以便在太空艙重力為零的環(huán)境下仍然可以書寫。經(jīng)過大量的研發(fā)工作，花費了大約一百萬美元的成本，太空筆終于研制出來了。那支筆果然可以在太空書寫，在回到地球后，作為一樣新奇的小玩意兒也確實吸引了一些目光。

　　而面臨著同樣難題的蘇聯(lián)，則選擇了一支鉛筆。