Design Icons - Fisher Bullet Space Pen

 

This is the Fisher Space Pen, perhaps the most recognisable writing implement after the Staedtler Noris pencil and the BIC disposable ball pen. Containing a pressurised ink tank, the Fisher Space Pen can write almost anywhere, from space to underwater; and on virtually any surface.

Its capabilities are well known as a result of partnerships with NASA and the Russian Space Agency, which saw the pens used in space and on the Moon. Urban legends claim the Space Pen as an example of US profligacy on the space race, but nothing could be further from the truth. Not only did NASA not waster millions developing the Space Pen, but neither did the Russians use pencils exclusively.

In fact Paul Fisher developed the Space Pen exclusively using private funding and only sold the Space Pen to NASA and Russia after demonstrating its advantages over the pencils both sides were using at the time. The graphite used in pencils is highly conductive and the risk of dust or snapped nibs causing problems in the technology were too high.

It’s believed that less than 200 of the pens were sold to the combined space agencies, however the fact that they were at all was a great marketing opportunity for Fisher. If the pens were awful that would have been of little benefit. That they were excellent meant they sold well. That they looked amazing didn’t hurt at all.

This Bullet version in chrome is perhaps the most iconic of Fisher’s offerings. It looks like a product of the space age and with the clever use of the cap to deliver a comfortable writing length, it works like one too.

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