Fisher Chrome Bullet Space Pen REVIEW | MacSources

Pen guarantees to give outstanding service — even in space.

I’ve always been fascinated with space. I grew up in the 80s, but my dad grew up in the 60s. So, we watched a lot of Cosmos in our house and were taught all about the NASA Space Program. One of the things I’ve always loved about the human journey to space is how it causes us all to think out of the box and innovate new technologies just to make something impossible — possible. This desire to innovate was part of Paul C. Fisher’s motivation when he created the Space Pen.

The Fisher Space Pen has its roots in the 40s, but it really began to take shape in the 60s when U.S. President John F. Kennedy pushed Americans to put a man on the moon. Fisher realized then that no ink pen could withstand a gravity-free, extreme-temperature environment like space. So, he set to work. After thousands of experiments, Fisher finally had a reliable ink cartridge that could perform in space. The pressurized ink cartridge is crafted to operate in temperatures -30ºF to +250ºF, underwater, and even in zero gravity. After 18 months of testing by NASA, the Fisher Space Pen was selected for use by astronauts. The diagram below shows the formation of the space pen ink cartridge.

With the inclusion of the pressurized ink cartridge, the Space Pen was born. The Bullet Space Pen, Fisher’s first ballpoint pen, features this ink cartridge and while it was originally designed in 1948, its classic design has stood the test of time and is even on exhibit in the New York Museum of Modern Art. It’s made from brass but is chrome-plated. It can be engraved and works with the Fisher Pressurized Refill cartridge.

The Bullet Space Pen comes in a fun retail package that has a picture of the moon landing on the front and the story of the space pen on the back. Inside the outer sleeve, there is a hard, clear plastic box that allows you to see the pen on the inside. The pen sits in a cutout that looks like the surface of the moon — complete with craters. Beneath the cutout insert is a pamphlet that has information about the pen and instructions on how to get a refill on the ink cartridge. That can also be ordered from the Space Pen website.

The Bullet Pen measures approximately 3.75 inches long when it’s capped. When the cap is removed and placed on the end of the pen, the unit measures 5.25 inches long. In comparison to a standard BIC Ball Point pen, the Bullet Space Pen feels a bit heavier. There are some circular grooves on the neck of the pen where your finger typically rests when you write. I happen to press fairly hard on my fingers when I write so those grooves were a little uncomfortable for me when I wrote for long periods of time. I did feel as though the pen was well-balanced. One thing I noticed was how the pen felt as it was writing. For example, a typical medium point ballpoint pen usually feels very smooth to me. The Bullet Space Pen felt a little more like a pencil writes than a ballpoint pen.

The Bullet Pen is very sleek and exclusive looking. It reminds me of something you would see sitting on an executive’s desk or a pen a banker would pull out of their pocket to sign important documents. I did try writing upside down and on a wall calendar and was impressed at how even the ink came out. I think it would make a great gift for graduations or promotions and it’s a much cooler gift than the pen sets you typically see at office supply stores. The Bullet Space Pen in Chrome retails for $27.00 (at the time of publishing this article).

For more information, visit spacepen.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

Originally published at https://macsources.com on August 14, 2020.