It's also an urban myth. Not even the russians are crazy enough to use a pencil in a high oxygen zero g space capsule. Graphite is both flammable and conductive. Pencil shavings or a broken tip could short circuit panels or potentially start fires. Wax crayons were used instead for a long time for that reason.
Also i believe nasa's pen was developed independently by a private company at no cost to the government.
Sorry for the derail. Only recently discovered this and thought it was interesting.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/
Ann: December 2016 Quarterly Report and Appendix 4C, page-21
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