When the Apollo 11 crew prepared to leave the Moon, they found the circuit breaker that armed their ascent engine had snapped off after a bulky backpack knocked it, and Buzz Aldrin pushed it back into place with a felt-tip pen rather than risk putting met

When the Apollo 11 crew prepared to leave the Moon, they found the circuit breaker that armed their ascent engine had snapped off after a bulky backpack knocked it, and Buzz Aldrin pushed it back into place with a felt-tip pen rather than risk putting met

After their first moonwalk, Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were back inside the Eagle, attempting to rest before the ascent. Aldrin noticed a small black plastic object on the floor. On inspection, it was the broken-off switch from the engine arm circuit breaker, marked ENG ARM on the panel. That breaker fed power to the ascent engine. Without that breaker closed at the right point in the checklist, the normal procedure for arming the ascent engine w…