14 DAY TRIAL // A used toothbrush which belonged to an American astronaut who took part in the 1970 Apollo 13 mission was sold at auction for nearly $12,000 (€8,800) this week.
The clear Oral B-40 toothbrush was used by Jack Swigert, who served as the command module pilot during the flight to the Moon.
According to Daily Times, Swigert took up the position after a colleague contracted measles. He was one of 24 American astronauts to fly around the Moon as part of the Apollo program, but he didn't have the chance to walk on the lunar surface because his craft's touchdown was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded 55 hours into the trip.
Luckily, the crew managed to return safely to Earth after converting their lunar module “into an effective lifeboat.” Swigert died in 1982 of bone cancer at the age of 51.
The Nate D. Sanders auction house revealed that while bidding for the dental hygiene tool opened at $4,000 (€2,934), an anonymous buyer purchased the item for $11,974 (€8,783).
Denver Post tells us that the Oral B-40 toothbrush Swigert used during the mission in space was part of a bigger auction which included 91 objects from the estate of the Apollo 13 astronaut. The rarest item of the auction was a Robbins medal from Swigert's Apollo 17 mission, which sold for $56,250 (€41,260).