Apollo 17 Garland Mechanical Pencil, From the Surface of the Moon

Fun for signing holiday cards, with graphite that has been to the moon!

This mechanical pencil, with the original ten pieces of 2-1/2 inch lead (graphite) and eraser, was used on the surface of the Moon. The white Velcro on the cap shows trace lunar dust that was transferred from Moonwalker Eugene Cernan’s hand.

It wasn’t just the Russians that flew pencils in space. 😉

Fifty years ago, today, Apollo 17 took off for the moon, the last of the Apollo series. Today, fifty years later, Apollo’s twin sister Artemis is on her way back from her first trip to the moon.