It's a funny story, but it's also not true. You don't want pencils in space (not because they don't work, but because you don't want graphite dust everywhere).
I like the part where you skipped right over "a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person" so you could quote "an account regarded as unreliable or hearsay".
It's okay to be wrong. I distinctly remember believing the (false) pencil story once, before reading more about it and learning the (far more interesting) actual story. And also realizing that the false pencil story pushes certain goals and agendas, too, so probably isn't accidental.
The US used graphite and paid ridiculous amounts of money for it. The USSR greased pencils or out right crayons instead.