Volume 6- Issue 11, Novemeber 2007
Published by Llumina Press

When I was learning about Quality Engineering, teachers would often use a story to better illustrate a particular concept they were trying to get across. Such is the case with the story I am about to tell. Cultures, or if you prefer, civilizations, often exhibit certain peculiarities. While quite noticeable when standing outside of them, they are usually invisible when immersed within them. We can all look at different cultures and see some unique characteristics and we are blind to our own. This is a story to illustrate, somewhat humorously, a particular American characteristic.

During the early years of NASA and the space program, the agency was attempting to devise all manner of things that the astronauts would require while on their space missions. These included, obviously, the space suit. It also included items like food dispensers, food items, drink delivery systems, waste disposal systems, etc. Among these needed inventions was the need for a special writing implement.

They had a budget and set out to develop the needed specification to create prototypes.

The specification included things like this:

The space pen has to

• Be able to withstand the G forces of acceleration/deceleration during takeoff/landing.

• Be able to be exposed to high temperatures without the ink leaking out.

• Be able to withstand low temperatures without rupturing or the ink freezing.

• The ink had to maintain its viscosity (thickness) over repeated temperature cycles.

• Be able to withstand zero gravity for long periods of time.

• Be able to write in a zero gravity environment, in any position, even upside-down.

• Be able to write on any surface likely to be used by the user.

• Be able to store away without the ink drying up and becoming useless.

• Be pressurized to provide a constant flow if ink under all these circumstances of use.

They had the budget and now with the rough specification, they could begin prototyping and testing.  I understand that they spent millions to develop what became the famous space pen used by the astronauts.

Now, on the other side of the world, we were in a space race with the Russians. They had the very same environments to deal with. They recognized the same needs and needed to develop some means for their astronauts to perform experiments and record results. They did not have anywhere near the same budget.  ……They decided to use a pencil!

This story has stayed with me for my entire career. It speaks volumes on how we as a culture seem to solve problems. We create vast, complex solutions. We form a committee, we get the funding, reach a consensus, seek bids to produce a complex result. Oftentimes we miss the obvious. We would never see it because we are trained to look for complex solutions. I mean, it’s a complex problem, right? Wouldn’t it be logical that it must be an equally complex solution?

**Quoted from Connecting the Dots, by Leonard Deddo, Llumina Press — Find out how what you eat is killing you.

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