Space Pen

Now here's something I didn't know ... the Space Shuttle is rigged to be detonated by NASA within two minutes of lift-off if things start to go badly.

Seriously, explosives are attached to the two solid rocket boosters and if they should misfire and it appears that the shuttle will crash onto a populated area, an Air Force officer throws a couple of switches and, blammo, the whole thing goes up in smoke and hydrazine before it can cause a *really* major issue.

Now, if the shuttle goes off course AFTER the first two minutes but before it clears Earth's atmosphere, the crew gets a parachute and some rafts and, well, lots of prayer.

The shuttle Discovery is scheduled to go up tomorrow as I write this, but some online news sources are reporting there is at least a 50% change the launch will be delayed.

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A POPULAR STORY...

When NASA first started sending astronauts into space, they quickly discovered that existing ball point pens would not work in zero gravity conditions.

To combat this problem, the agency spent years and over a million dollars 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 degrees Celsius.

The Russians used a pencil.

THE REALITY...

NASA originally used pencils in space, just as Soviet cosmonauts did. The problem, however, was that occasionally the lead would break and the bits of graphite would become hazards in the zero gravity environment. In July of 1965, Paul C. Fisher developed the first "pressurized pen" - completely on his own, NASA had never asked for his help or input - and in December of 1967, after two years of rigorous testing, he sold 400 pens to the Space Administration for $2.95 each. The "Fisher Space Pen" has been used by both Russia and the USA for manned space flights since then.

[first bit from urban legend; second bit from Snopes]

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WONDER for YOUR WEEK: Could an astronaut be the luckiest person on Earth?

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