Buzz Aldrin's Moon-Saving Pen Sells for $857,600

A simple plastic pen just sold for $857,600 because 57 years ago, it saved two astronauts stranded on the Moon.

Buzz Aldrin noticed the problem after he and Neil Armstrong completed their historic moonwalk in 1969. The tip of a critical circuit breaker switch had snapped off inside the lunar module. Without it, they couldn't fire their ascent engine to leave the Moon's surface.

Mission Control scrambled to find a solution while the astronauts waited in their cramped spacecraft. Aldrin came up with a brilliantly simple idea.

He pulled a felt-tip marker from his spacesuit pocket and carefully pushed it into the circuit breaker opening. The switch clicked on, rearming the engine. "Now we could leave the lunar surface, rendezvous with Mike Collins in the command module, and head for home," Aldrin later wrote. "Disaster averted."

The pen wasn't the fancy Fisher Space Pen that became famous through marketing stories. It was an ordinary Duro-brand Rocket felt-tip marker. Aldrin always emphasized this detail as an engineer, pointing out he would never stick a metal-tipped pen into a live electrical socket.

Sotheby's sold both the pen and the broken circuit breaker switch on Wednesday as part of their annual Geek Week auction. The Buzz Aldrin Family Trust consigned the items along with more than 40 other pieces from his collection.

Why This Inspires

This story reminds us that world-changing solutions don't always require advanced technology or complex plans. Sometimes the most important tool is the one already in your pocket and the clear thinking to use it.

The pen and switch had previously toured America as part of the Smithsonian's "Destination Moon" exhibit, inspiring visitors in five cities. A 2012 law confirmed that Apollo astronauts legally own the equipment they kept as mementos from their missions.

While the sale price sounds astronomical, it didn't crack the top 10 for space memorabilia. A watch worn on the Moon during Apollo 15 sold for $1.625 million in 2015. Aldrin's own Apollo 11 flight jacket brought in $2.7 million in 2022.

The auction drew collectors from around the world, with the winning bidder participating by phone. Their identity remains private, but they now own a piece of pen that wrote one of history's most remarkable problem-solving stories.

Sometimes the difference between disaster and triumph is just having the right tool and the courage to try something simple.