One small pen for one giant fee: Buzz Aldrin’s mission-saving felt-tip up for auction

Sotheby’s expects second man on moon’s marker, crucial to Apollo 11 return, to reach astronomical sum

The felt-tip pen Buzz Aldrin used to fix a broken circuit breaker and escape from the moon in 1969 is up for auction in New York on Wednesday.

The dented silver plastic Duro Rocket pen – used by the second man on the moon to save Neil Armstrong and himself from being “stuck on the moon for ever” – has a sale price estimated by Sotheby’s at between $800,000 and $1.2m. The lucky bidder will get the broken piece of circuit breaker, too. Both come from Aldrin’s personal collection.