Today on MoJo Radio 640, Toronto,(Radio for guys) they interviewd Mr. Fisher, living in Nevada, the 88 year old designer of the real astronaut pen. His company was commissioned by NASA in the 60's to design a pen that would write in zero G and withstand extremes of temperature. He said he made about $5,000,000 on the patent and that Neil and Buzz used the pen to substitute for a broken launch rocket switch when they blasted off from the moon. Without the pen they could not have reached the console to flip the switch, because they left all their tools on the moon suface before re-entering the lunar lander there was nothing else to use - (anyone thinking of Walter Mitty?)
The interviewer asked him if he was aware of the Seinfeld episode with the pen.
He said they did not ask him before they made the show but Jerry sent him a copy of the episode after it was taped and that he really appreciated the publicity the show gave his product, which is still selling world-wide.