Writes at zero gravity, works upside down and on almost any surface, as well as in extreme temperatures.

When NASA first started sending astronauts into space, they realised that the ball-point pen would not work at zero gravity. A million dollar investment and two years of tests resulted in a pen that could write in space, upside down, on almost any surface and at temperatures ranging from below zero to over 300ºC. When confronted with the same problem, the Russians used a pencil.

This is a replica of the writing instrument used by Soviet Cosmonauts on early manned space flights.

• Please note this is a pencil!