Comment by bluGill
2 days ago
It wasn't the Americans who spent millions. It was a single American: Paul C. Fisher who spent it own money because he thought Astronauts should have a good pen to use in space. His pen was so much better than the pencils used by both the Americans and Russians that both immediately switched to using his pens.
A few extra important points, the NASA space pen was cancelled due to cost overruns and when they finally purchased the Fisher pens it was at normal retail prices.
And grease pencils were an option, though not as good as pens.