Problem solving story: Sometimes you already have the solution

During the early days of the Space Race, the USA and the Soviets were desperate to gain the critical edge that would see them first to land a spacecraft on the moon. Prestige, acclamation, and national honor depended upon it.

The key, as it so often is, was the gathering of quality information. The technology had to be refined, and the effects of weightlessness and other non-terrestrial factors on the astronauts explored and understood. Naturally, the astronauts were in the front line of research. They were there, they were living it, so it was essential they kept accurate, experiential, and up to the minute records. This was the ultimate action research project.

However, there was a big problem. When there is no gravity the ink in pens does not flow. Whichever block could solve this challenge, it seemed, would win the Space Race. Never before in the history of the world had penmanship been so critical, so essential. The USA government put millions of dollars into funding a project with a well-known pen company which developed the pen with a heart, a minipump action that allowed a generation of schoolchildren to write rude messages on classroom ceilings, and USA astronauts to make and take critical notes in space.

The Soviets, meanwhile, solved the problem, by giving their astronauts pencils.