During the heat of the space race in the 1960's, the United States' NASA decided it needed a ballpoint pen that could write in the zero gravity environment in their space capsules.
After considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of approximately a million dollars. The pen worked well, and even enjoyed some success as a novelty item back here on Earth.
The Soviets, faced with the same problem, used a pencil.