I was recently presented with this rather amusing story…

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly
discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity.
To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a
decade and $12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero
gravity, upside-down, on almost any surface including glass and
at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 C.
The Russians used a pencil.
Your taxes are due again – enjoy paying them

I decided to check out snopes to see if they had any information about it… turns out, they do… CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT THE TRUTH