Buzz Aldrin Used This Humble Felt-Tip Pen to Save the Apollo II Astronauts. It Just Sold for More Than $850,000
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The pen that helped Apollo II astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins return to Earth in 1969 has sold at auction. After a bidding war between five collectors, the brushed aluminum Duro “Rocket” felt-tip pen brought in $857,600 during a recent Sotheby’s sale in New York, reports the Guardian’s Paul Owen.
Reported by 1 outlet — Smithsonian. See all sources ↓
The pen that helped Apollo II astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins return to Earth in 1969 has sold at auction. After a bidding war between five collectors, the brushed aluminum Duro “Rocket” felt-tip pen brought in $857,600 during a recent Sotheby’s sale in New York, reports the Guardian’s Paul Owen. The winning bidder also got the broken circuit breaker that necessitated Aldrin’s quick-thinking workaround with the pen, which prevented the astronauts from being “stuck on the moon forever,” Aldrin writes in a provenance letter for the artifacts. Aldrin and Armstrong had just finished a three-hour walk on the moon’s Sea of Tranquility when they decided to get some sleep.
Read the full report at Smithsonian ↗
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- The pen that helped Apollo II astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins return to Earth in 1969 has sold at auction. After a bidding war between five collectors, the brushed aluminum Duro “Rocket” felt-tip pen brought in $857,600 during a recent Sotheby’s sale in New York, reports the Guardian’s Paul Owen.
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Buzz Aldrin Used This Humble Felt-Tip Pen to Save the Apollo II Astronauts. It Just Sold for More Than $850,000
Sources1TypeCoverageSmithsonian