# What's the story behind the $600 hammer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-behind-the-600-hammer/451655 "2008-06-03T18:06:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-behind-the-600-hammer/451655/21 "2008-06-05T10:20:36Z")
[QUOTE=essell] If it’s true, I note that such pens are now for sale all over the world. Nasa probably got their money back in licence fees alone. ETA: [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp) says **False**. [/QUOTE] I remember looking up that snopes story - it doesn’t say that NASA didn’t develop the pen, IIRC, just something along the lines of: - At first, both Americans and Soviets used pencils in space. - Americans didn’t think they were good enough and tooled around some to develop a pen that would work in zero gravity. - The soviets, for whatever reason, (laziness, contentment, lack of imagination) left well enough alone. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-behind-the-600-hammer/451655/22 "2008-06-05T10:34:55Z")
[QUOTE=chrisk] I remember looking up that snopes story - it doesn’t say that NASA didn’t develop the pen, IIRC, just something along the lines of: \ [/QUOTE] NASA did not develop the pen. It was developed by a private company, with their own money. Unfortunately, this is an UL that refuses to die. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-behind-the-600-hammer/451655/23 "2008-06-05T11:54:38Z")
[QUOTE=mks57] NASA did not develop the pen. It was developed by a private company, with their own money. Unfortunately, this is an UL that refuses to die. [/QUOTE] Whoops, sorry. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-behind-the-600-hammer/451655/24 "2008-06-05T12:21:07Z")
[QUOTE=mks57] NASA did not develop the pen. It was developed by a private company, with their own money. [/QUOTE] By [Fisher Pen](http://www.spacepen.com/Public/History/index.cfm). Love 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-behind-the-600-hammer/451655/25 "2008-06-05T15:44:57Z")
[QUOTE=yoyodyne] By [Fisher Pen](http://www.spacepen.com/Public/History/index.cfm). Love 'em. [/QUOTE] I saw the factory producing the Fisher Space pen last night on the Discovery Channel. I even told my wife about the Russian-pencil thing, trying to impress her with my awesome trivia knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-behind-the-600-hammer/451655/26 "2008-06-05T17:56:33Z")
[QUOTE=Madd Maxx] …I even told my wife about the Russian-pencil thing, trying to impress her with my awesome trivia knowledge. [/QUOTE] Presumably it didn’t work. After you’ve been married a couple years, is it possible to impress your wife with anything? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-behind-the-600-hammer/451655/27 "2008-06-05T18:08:52Z")
[QUOTE=Rocketeer] Presumably it didn’t work. After you’ve been married a couple years, is it possible to impress your wife with anything? 😛 [/QUOTE] If that’s the case, you could always go to Las Vegas for a $600 hammer… ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-behind-the-600-hammer/451655/28 "2008-06-05T19:43:59Z")
I’m pretty sure there was a $600 hammer in Men’s Journal last month. I’ll track it down if I haven’t given it away yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-behind-the-600-hammer/451655.md?page=1)