American Ingenuity

During the heat of the space race in the 1960s, the U.S. National
Aeronautics and Space Administration realised that astronauts would
have to be able to record certain things while performing their duties
and so it would need a writing utensil capable of writing in the zero
gravity confines of its space capsules. Of Course, normal pens will
not work since they are all gravity fed.

After considerable research and development spanning over
two years, the working zero-g Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of
approximately $US 1 Million (in 1960's dollars !!). The initial production
run was fifty pens.

The Soviet Union was faced with the same problem....
but they issued pencils.