typical Russian engineering. I really really seriously really doubt this would ever deploy let alone work......but show it to Pukin and I bet he'd outfit every Russian Com Jet with it.... Bet ya' didn't know both Challenger and Columbia (S. Shuttle's) had two ejection seats in the day, (before Mods Programs removed them)...? During the Challenger Incident (January 28th, 1986) those ejection seats were "hot" or (operational), yet could of never ever been used...... Of course an engineering blunder, one could of never utilized them, not on lift off, never, a hidden Engineering blunder as well....
PS: there are only 3 tools a Russian ever carries in their cars, and or planes: Bailing Wire A Hammer A large pair of Vice Grips
I remember reading articles on that plane parachute concept back in the Sixties or Seventies in Popular Science Magazine. With the Russians involved I'd have to wonder myself. The Soviet Military back in the Forties came up with a concept to replace paratroopers by having aircraft fly at near stall speeds at hedgehop level with the troopers doing a forward rollout of the plane. Did not work well at all.
...I remember reading about how much money NASA wasted on developing a pressurized pen that our astronauts could use in the zero gravity of space...it was in the millions of dollars I believe. ...the Russians simply gave their cosmonauts a pencil to write with...........duh.
My father worked at Kennedy Space Center after he left the Navy. Met a couple of those NASA Engineer types, extremely sharp but could not even balance a checkbook. Classic case of KISS, bypassing the obvious to look for something more "advanced"
...My Dad was also in the Navy...32 years, unheard of these days. ...Uncle Don worked for NASA and lived in Titusville...great fishing over there...it was only about a 1/2 hour drive from where we lived back then. (Longwood)
Yes but the graphite shavings from sharpening the pencils in 0g and O2 Rich environment were extremely flammable and therefore didn't meet NASA safety standards. It's not that they didn't think about it. That R&D actually has had some important applications, especially in the design of self contained science packages for biological systems and material science.
Eisenhower ensured every single NASA Space Program invention, or creation, was for the benefit of all mankind. 6,800 Patents later, we have Air Sole Shoes, Velcro, Freeway "grooving", and 5,997 other great outcomes of inventions, ... the creation of Velcro cost a helluva lot more than the Space Pen, and yeah those pens are fkng awesome, ... However, the costs of any NASA invention, is more than paid for themselves in the Public market place/commerce. Velcro alone has been used and sold around the World for 40 years, and look at the offsetting Billions of $$$ Velcro's invention has returned outrageous dividends back to the creator, paying for the years of research and creation start up costs.... Many don't see the 'red tape' bs, these Corporations like Rockwell or even NASA go through, to simply order a drill bit... with any and all DOD/NASA Programs, one literally has to order tool, supplies, from: (pens, pencils, paper), to parts, etc.; up to 12 months in advance. (The average time, is 3 months-to six mos). The red tape itself is a bastard son of the Federal Govt, which requires Contractors to literally obtain quotes from numerous potential suppliers. By the time and amount of hands and eyes touch the red tape paper, that is what drives the end cost. After the $750 ball peen hammer, made the Papers, we would take 'petty cash' (not under scrutiny of red tape), and send a courier out, or go ourselves to obtain, what would cost 20 times more, if we used the system put in place by the Feds....
...lol...I believe they used mechanical pencils...it's not like they were up there sharpening wooden pencils with a pocket knife. ...and we're talking about very early space flight, not Apollo missions and later.
...^^^ personally had it of been my call alone to make, I'd of given each Astronaut one of those "Magic Slates" see pic below. An Etch a Sketch would of been too costly, with my budget proposals...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_PenPen A common urban legend states that NASA spent a large amount of money to develop a pen that would write in space (the result purportedly being the Fisher Space Pen), while the Soviets just used pencils.[2][3] There is a grain of truth: NASA began to develop a space pen, but when development costs skyrocketed the project was abandoned and astronauts went back to using pencils, along with the Soviets.[2][3] However, the claim that NASA spent millions on the Space Pen is incorrect, as the Fisher pen was developed using private capital, not government funding. NASA – and the Soviets[3][4][5] – eventually began purchasing such pens. NASA programs previously used pencils[6] (for example a 1965 order of mechanical pencils[7]) but because of the substantial dangers that broken pencil tips and graphite dust pose to electronics in zero gravity, the flammable nature of wood present in pencils,[7] and the inadequate quality documentation produced by non-permanent or smeared recordkeeping, a better solution was needed. Russian cosmonauts used pencils, and grease pencils on plastic slates until also adopting a space pen in 1969 with a purchase of 100 units for use on all future missions.[8] NASA never approached Paul Fisher to develop a pen, nor did Fisher receive any government funding for the pen's development.[7] Fisher invented it independently and then, in 1965, asked NASA to try it. After extensive testing, NASA decided to use the pens in future Apollo missions.[6][8][9] Subsequently, in 1967 it was reported that NASA purchased approximately 400 pens for $6 a piece.[8] In 2008, Gene Cernan's Apollo 17-flown space pen sold in a Heritage auction for US$23,900.[10]
...^^^ Thanks Tote, for clarification to this issue- Space Pen's are fkng awesome, love how one can write with it, upside down, standing upright, et al.
