Aldrin also loaned the pen and broken-off circuit breaker switch to the Smithsonian for its “Destination Moon” traveling exhibit featuring the Apollo 11 command module “Columbia.” The tour visited five US cities over the course of two years, spanning the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing in 2019.
The location of the engine arm circuit breaker switch in the Apollo lunar module that was broken off on Apollo 11.
Credit: NASA
The location of the engine arm circuit breaker switch in the Apollo lunar module that was broken off on Apollo 11. Credit: NASA
A law enacted in 2012 reaffirmed that Aldrin and his fellow Apollo-era astronauts legally had title to the spacecraft hardware and other crew equipment they kept as mementos from their missions. The pieces are theirs to own, sell, trade, or donate as they desire.
This was at least the second time that the pen and switch had been offered for sale. In 2022, Sotheby’s listed the same set as part of its “Buzz Aldrin: American Icon” sale. Despite eliciting bids up to $650,000, the lot failed to reach its reserve and was passed.
This time, the bids reached $670,000, and it was sold on behalf of the Buzz Aldrin Family Trust. The $857,600 total includes the buyer’s premium assessed by Sotheby’s. The winning bidder was not identified other than as a participant by phone.
Not a record-setter
While the sale price was impressive, the pen and switch did not break into the top 10 list of the highest prices at a public sale for space artifacts and memorabilia. That ranking begins at $1.625 million, the amount paid in 2015 for a Bulova watch worn outside on the surface of the Moon during the 1971 Apollo 15 mission and tops out at the $2,882,500 spent for the former Soviet Union’s Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule as auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2011.
The broken circuit breaker switch that nearly ended Apollo 11, and the pen that Buzz Aldrin used to save himself and Neil Armstrong.
Credit: Sotheby’s
The broken circuit breaker switch that nearly ended Apollo 11, and the pen that Buzz Aldrin used to save himself and Neil Armstrong. Credit: Sotheby's
As a point of comparison, the second-highest price for a space-flown artifact was the $2,772,500 commanded by Aldrin’s Apollo 11 in-flight jacket, which Sotheby’s sold in 2022.
Wednesday’s “Space Exploration” sale was part of Sotheby’s annual Geek Week of science and technology-themed auctions. The sale offered 134 lots, including more than 40 items from Aldrin’s collection. In total, it brought in $2,862,336.
A modern Moonshine gold Omega Speedmaster chronograph, one of 24 watches consigned by the Aldrin Family Trust, sold for $70,400. The same 2026 model is still for sale from Omega for $53,500 retail.
Another sale highlight, and the only item other than the pen and switch set to sell for six figures, was the pressure hatch from the Skylab III command module, flown to and from the United States’ first space station in 1974. It sold for $192,000.