On Space Pens, Microwave Ovens, Velcro, and MiGs...

[Gammon]

Okay, I should have started here instead of hijacking that other fine thread, but here we go. This is where we discuss the truth about all the things we were told we got out of the space race.

Three things I know of that we have all been led to believe were the result of NASA spending vast amounts of time and money developing things for the sake of space travel:

1) Space pens.

2) Microwave ovens.

3) Velcro.

And one thing sort of related that I've just always wondered if any of it is really true or not:
The story goes that the Russian MiG is powered by a computer system composed of vacuum tubes. The Americans used this to point out how backward the Russians were. The Russians intentionally designed it this way so that the MiG wouldn't fall out of the sky as the result of an EMP blast from a nuclear weapon detonation.

As for Space Pens, Microwave ovens, and Velcro, I think I know the whole story behind these things. Actually, I know more about the Microwave oven bit than most, and I wonder if you couldn't credit cooking with radio waves much earlier than the RADAR experiments with the exploding eggs.
But the whole issue with the MiG, I don't actually know anything about, other than that rumour.

And, I think there are other such space-race rumours.

[oc_in_fw]

I was lead to believe that we spent a lot of money to develop a pen that could write in zero gravity, and that the Russians just used pencils. Not sure how true it is.

[Greg1911]

There is a lot more than 1 Russian MiG model.

[Jim]

Dont forget TANG!

[Legion]

When I was a kid there was a snack bar called "space food" which was a sort of chewy chocolaty thing. It was supposed to have been designed as a nutritious snack for astronauts. I don't know if that was true, or just marketing hype designed to cash in on space excitement. Never really liked them that much.

[The Nid Hog]

Dont forget TANG!

My thoughts exactly.

[The Nid Hog]

When I was a kid there was a snack bar called "space food" which was a sort of chewy chocolaty thing. It was supposed to have been designed as a nutritious snack for astronauts. I don't know if that was true, or just marketing hype designed to cash in on space excitement. Never really liked them that much.

My buddy's mom would always give us Space Food Sticks as a snack when we'd stop by the house. She was a wonderful baker too--the kind of mom who seemed to magically have a tray of cookies or a pan of brownies coming out of the oven when somebody walked in the door. But she loved those Space Food Sticks too. They tasted kind of like a protein bar.

[maxman]

I heard once that the Dustbuster (vacuum) was a NASA spin-off product.
I don't know any details though.

Lots of food items came around too. Tang should have been left in space IMO. That stuff is horrid.
Freeze dried foods of all sorts were marketed as "meals the astronauts ate" but i'm not too sure they did eat that stuff.

Although, the Ice cream isn't too bad.

[Pebcak]

I was lead to believe that we spent a lot of money to develop a pen that could write in zero gravity, and that the Russians just used pencils. Not sure how true it is.

False actually. Fisher developed the pen on this own then sold the idea to NASA.

[mmack66]

Teflon

[StripeyType]

False actually. Fisher developed the pen on this own then sold the idea to NASA.

A sI understand it, Fisher didn't even sell the pens to NASA, they gave them away to individual astronauts before their missions. The advertising copy says nothing about having been developed or issued by NASA; only that they pens were used by astronauts.

[bamafan64]

My buddy's mom would always give us Space Food Sticks as a snack when we'd stop by the house. She was a wonderful baker too--the kind of mom who seemed to magically have a tray of cookies or a pan of brownies coming out of the oven when somebody walked in the door. But she loved those Space Food Sticks too. They tasted kind of like a protein bar.

Were these the ones that were chocolate or peanut butter flavored? Yechh.

[_JP_]

Teflon

Nope! Teflon was an accidental invention that happened in 1938. It wasn't until after WWII that it was first marketed on cookware. I did a canoe trip with the guy who invented a lot of uses for Teflon. His efforts made lots of money for DuPont and he is very well off today because of it.

Velcro is also another item that was not invented by NASA. They do use it a lot, but it wasn't their idea.

There are many other things that have come out of the space program into public use. Not all of them are products. Medical advances is one area where we all benefit today because of the research conducted by NASA.

[finnmcool]

The so called space pen is a silly unnecessary improvement over the standard ball point (biro to my overseas brothers). A standard ball point pen will, also, write upside down and under water. It uses a viscous oil based ink that feeds through capillary action (I hope that is the right phenomenon) rather than gravity feeding. Being oil based it is effected very little by water.

I used to be an ink tech for a printing company, that's why I know something about this. The good Mr. Biro invented the ball point using printing ink, specifically, lithographic ink.

[mmack66]

I don't know about writing under water, but I have had several ball point pens stop writing when they are upside down.

The Space Pen has a pressurized cartridge, which allowed astronauts to write in a zero gravity environment.

The so called space pen is a silly unnecessary improvement over the standard ball point (biro to my overseas brothers). A standard ball point pen will, also, write upside down and under water. It uses a viscous oil based ink that feeds through capillary action (I hope that is the right phenomenon) rather than gravity feeding. Being oil based it is effected very little by water.

I used to be an ink tech for a printing company, that's why I know something about this. The good Mr. Biro invented the ball point using printing ink, specifically, lithographic ink.

[Mr_Amazing]

I was lead to believe that we spent a lot of money to develop a pen that could write in zero gravity, and that the Russians just used pencils. Not sure how true it is.

It's completely false. The government had zero to do with the development of that pen. The inventor, a guy named Fisher, spent a million dollars in 1965 to develop a pen because the lead and wood from pencils were easily combustible in a pure oxygen environment. The broken lead could get into instrumentation, too. It had nothing to do with the Soviet Union.

[oc_in_fw]

False actually. Fisher developed the pen on this own then sold the idea to NASA.

great marketing scheme

[oc_in_fw]

Tang should have been left in space IMO. That stuff is horrid.
Freeze dried foods of all sorts were marketed as "meals the astronauts ate" but i'm not too sure they did eat that stuff...

Although, the Ice cream isn't too bad.

Every once and a while I will buy a can of spam and some Tang and relive the good old days The ice cream was great.

[xraygun]

Without Arthur C Clarke and the space race we wouldn't have our cool GPS that many of us need just to find the store.

[Sal]

I was lead to believe that we spent a lot of money to develop a pen that could write in zero gravity, and that the Russians just used pencils. Not sure how true it is.

This is a good read on the subject

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/613/1