The story of the Space Pen really begins with its inventor, Paul C. Fisher. Before he took to making pens, Paul worked in an airplane propeller factory during World War II. It was there that he gained valuable experience with ball bearings, knowledge that would come in handy down the road for creating ballpoints. He later went on to invent the 'universal refill' ink cartridge, which in turn led him to create the first 'Anti-Gravity' pen, patented in 1966. Although it is a popular misconception that NASA invested millions of dollars developing an anti-gravity writing instrument, the fact of the matter is that Paul had been working on the design for years and had invested roughly one million dollars into the pens development . Truth be told, in the beginning Fisher didn’t even set out to create a pen specifically for the astronauts; he was simply looking to make a great pen that worked without leaking.