The early Apollo mission was embroiled in scandal when the public found out that astronauts were using pencils priced at $128.89. People were outraged to find that NASA ordered over four thousand dollars worth of pencils, and an inquiry was opened into the matter. At the inquiry the NASA representative, probably the guy who'd drawn the short straw that day, wearily explained that the pencils were made of special fibers, but were a bargain $1.75 each. The extra money came from the fact that they had to be modified so that they could be attached to the inside of the space ship and be used by someone wearing a space suit."
NASA did start to develop a space pen, but the costs soon spiralled and when the agency came up against public opposition the astronauts reverted back to using pencils.
The space pen was developed on Fisher's own dime.
I recently investigated about the well known hoax about the millions (sometime billions) $$$ supposedly spent by NASA to acquire a pen to be used in space.