When the NASA decided to beat the russians at being the first one to send a man to the space, the challenge to provide astronauts with the best tools soon arose. One of the needs to be met was a writing tool, so the NASA engineers dedicated millions of dollars and hours of work to succed in creating a ballpoint pen that would write 1) Under water or outside the atmosphere, 2) withstanding temperatures of -100F to 150F without loosing its properties, 3) on almost every surface, 4) upside-down.
The russians used a common graphite pencil
(Just joking
)