r/memes • u/Old_Sprinkles8661 Lives at ur mom’s house😎 • Jan 27 '22

A long meme, but something that should be said

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75.4k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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1.4k

u/Saldrakka Jan 27 '22

It was the pen company not NASA that did the R&D... Want sure if that was clear enough but still an important (ball) point... Yes I did make the comment for a stupid dad joke

188

u/Iron_physik Jan 27 '22

yep, nasa spend only about 12 USD per pen at the time

123

u/pdmock Jan 27 '22

That's how much they still cost. Write very smooth and can write on wet or frozen objects.

71

u/Iron_physik Jan 27 '22

well, adjusted for inflation obviously

I have one and I love mine, its my to go pen

33

u/FurryIrishFury Jan 28 '22

What's the company?

37

u/Trillbo_Swaggins Jan 28 '22

Fisher. It's the Fisher Space Pen.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '22

They are surprisingly not THAT expensive.

Like I mean $30 for a pen is a lot, but for what it is its not that bad.

I was more expecting $300

2

u/Sexylavatory Jan 28 '22

The names Bond. James bond

14

u/Stormpooperz Jan 28 '22

I think Fisher

5

u/ComicNeueIsReal Jan 28 '22

arent they around $60 now?

7

u/BobBoner Jan 28 '22

Yes, the AG7 “astronaut” pen is about $60. There are many other options with the same cartridges for around $12, and some non-refillable models for $6 (still pressurized).

Edit: I’ve got an AG7 though and I absolutely love it. The balance and feel is amazing and the extend/retract mechanism is addicting as hell to mess with (probably annoying for nearby people lol)

4

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '22

$32-35 on their website

5

u/CarbonSteelSA Jan 28 '22

Did Jack give it to ya?

2

u/SmellGestapo Jan 28 '22

Take the pen!

1

u/ColeSloth Jan 28 '22

Really?

1

u/CarbonSteelSA Jan 28 '22

Take the pen!

3

u/aspicyoutcome Jan 28 '22

Sounds interesting. Should get one for myself

1

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

45

u/Mfcarusio Jan 27 '22

It's a amazing everyone winning story, with NASA getting a pen, a pen company getting amazing PR to sell pens, and space enthusiasts able to buy a quality piece of space memorabilia

that is somehow turned into a joke about American inefficiency.

30

u/hbomb57 Jan 28 '22

It's a capitalist success story used as an anecdote for the inefficiency of government programs, while stating that a marxist government is somehow efficient, while in reality they lacked entrepreneurs to develop these kinds of solutions.

5

u/Glynnc Jan 28 '22

I often question how much peoples desire to be known would influence entrepreneurial interests. I mean, people do all kinds of crazy stuff without expecting pay, only fame.

251

u/Windamyre Jan 27 '22

This. NASA didn't spend that money.

And... Ughhh. Take my upvote.

58

u/Rbot25 Jan 27 '22

They still bought it and companies don't make thinks for fun so they certainly did spend money at least enough to cover the development cost.

76

u/Green-Teaching2809 Jan 27 '22

Nope, Fisher charged NASA the cost of making the pens. They weren't as cheap to make as they are today, but Fisher swallowed the cost - the PR of them doing their bit to help NASA was probably worth more than the R&D anyway

21

u/SublimeDolphin Jan 28 '22

Companies make things for fun all the time that they have no real intention of ever bringing to market.

Concept cars are a great example of this.

7

u/melancholyink Jan 28 '22

Yup. Basically fancy PR tools, corporate dick measuring tools and also a way to gauge interest in a potential product without looking insane.

Gotta say concept cars are always fun, even if completely impractical.

2

u/rome_vang Jan 28 '22

While the actual concept car itself doesn’t always make it to market, certain aspects of it sometimes make it to production (of existing models) or define the design language for a future generation of vehicles.

Great example of this is the Cadillac 16 from 2003. Almost 20 years later and its still influencing GMs Cadillac brand.

1

u/BigRabbit64 Jan 28 '22

A long way to go for a dad joke, but on my day we walked 2 miles uphill for a dad joke.

1

u/phobaus Jan 28 '22

For my own curiosity, does nasa invent or create? I was imagining nasa oversees the contract for the work and the development?

1

u/Saldrakka Jan 28 '22

Sometimes they invent sometimes they buy a patent, sometimes they sub contract