Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins

The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins were issued by the United States Mint in 2019. Consisting of a gold half eagle, two different sizes of silver dollars, and a copper-nickel clad half dollar, each of the four was issued in proof condition. All but the larger silver dollar also issued in uncirculated. The obverse depicts a bootprint on the lunar surface, based on a photograph taken by Aldrin. The reverse depicts the visor and surrounding helmet of Aldrin’s space suit, with Armstrong, the U. S. flag and the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle in the reflection.

About Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins in brief

The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins were issued by the United States Mint in 2019. Consisting of a gold half eagle, two different sizes of silver dollars, and a copper-nickel clad half dollar, each of the four was issued in proof condition. All but the larger silver dollar also issued in uncirculated. The obverse depicts a bootprint on the lunar surface, based on a photograph taken by Aldrin. The reverse depicts the visor and surrounding helmet of Aldrin’s space suit, with Armstrong, the U. S. flag and the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle in the reflection. The coins are curved, so that the obverse is concave and the reverse is convex. There was anticipation that some denominations might sell out, as had occurred with the previous U.S. issue of curved pieces, the 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame coins. This did not prove to be the case, and none of the coins sold out before sales ended on December 27, 2019. It was nevertheless the most successful US commemorative coin program since the Baseball Hall Of Fame issue, with over 600,000 Apollo 11 coins sold. NASA achieved its goal with Apollo 11, which landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. The mission returned to Earth on July 24, 1969, fulfilling Kennedy’s challenge. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged his nation to land an astronaut on the moon by the end of the decade, with a safe return to Earth. About an hour and a half after Armstrong first set foot on the Lunar surface, Aldrin performed the Boot Print Soil Mechanics Experiment.

About 13 minutes following the taking of the bootprint photographs, after Armstrong had collected a bulk sample of lunar regolith from the surface, he offered the camera to Armstrong, perhaps feeling that as Armstrong had taken the sample, he could make better use of the camera. Armstrong took eight photographs before Aldrin resumed using the camera; the eighth has been deemed \”one of the most famous photos in history: a portrait of Aldin, his gold-plated sun visor reflecting the photographer and the Lunar Module, the flag, and the moon’s horizon against an unimaginably black sky.’ The depiction of Aldrina made him the seventh individual to appear on a U. s. coin who was alive at the time the coins were struck. In January 2015, Representative Rod Blum, whose district included the Florida Space Center, and who as a young man had worked in the Apollo program, introduced legislation to mark the 25th anniversary of the landing of the Moon with coins. In June 2015, a bipartisan group of cosponsors and introduced legislation. The bill had been introduced into Congress in 1993 but had failed as had a bill for the 50th anniversary with the Moon landing with coins had been previously honored three times with the Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy administration. The legislation was passed and introduced in June 2015. The gold coins were striking at the West Point Mint, the silver at the Philadelphia Mint and the base metal half dollars at the mints in Denver and San Francisco.

Related posts:

Apollo 9 Apollo 11 Apollo 15 Apollo program