Buzz Aldrin sells famous felt-tip pen that helped launch Apollo from the Moon

A felt-tip marker and a snapped-off circuit breaker switch from Apollo 11 sold for eight hundred fifty-seven thousand six hundred dollars at auction. Per Ars Technica, fifty-seven years ago on the lunar surface, astronauts realized the switch that would ignite their ascent engine had been broken. Buzz Aldrin reported the problem to Mission Control and came up with a simple solution: use a felt-tip pen to push the switch back in. The pen worked, enabling their engine to fire and their journey home from the Moon.

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