Clearly my love of shiny, metallic mechanisms extends into space. This is the probe end of the probe and drogue system that was used to dock the Apollo command module to the lunar module (and to the Soyuz docking adapter).

The probe, located at the front of the command module, would be inserted into the drogue (the dark cone at the left of this photo). This held the two spacecraft together until a series of latches secured them. The probe and drogue would then be removed, leaving a tunnel through which the astronauts could pass from one spacecraft to the other.

These artifacts are on display in the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma