ONE SMALL...

Pen That Saved Moon Landing Astronauts’ Lives Up for Auction

The unlikely space artifact is expected to fetch up to $1.2 million.

The felt-tip pen Buzz Aldrin used to help get himself and Neil Armstrong off the moon after a critical circuit breaker broke is expected to fetch between $800,000 and $1.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction. The silver plastic Duro Rocket pen comes with the broken engine-arm circuit breaker it helped replace. Both are from Aldrin’s personal collection. After Mission Control determined there was no way to reroute power to the lunar module’s ascent engine, Aldrin realized the pen’s non-metal tip could safely press the damaged breaker into place. The improvised fix worked, allowing the astronauts to lift off from the lunar surface and return to Earth. Aldrin later wrote that he likely snapped the switch himself after accidentally bumping it with his bulky backpack inside the lunar module. Now 96, Aldrin remains one of just four living people to have walked on the moon.