2016-10-08 Sat

In December 1999, The United Nations declared October 4–10 to be Space Week and the world is celebrating “the benefits of space and excitement about space exploration.”

The Apollo 11 crew was featured on the obverse of the 2011 New Frontier Congressional Gold Medal along with a Hubble Space Telescope image of the brilliant Carina Nebula.

12 Sacagawea $1 coins were carried by the space shuttle Columbia in 1999, a 1909 cent travelled to Mars with the rover Curiosity in 2012. Two quarter dollars from the 50 State Quarters Program are travelling beyond Pluto on the New Horizons spacecraft. The 1971 reverse of the Eisenhower dollar featured an eagle on the moon; the 1992 commemoratives in the Christopher Columbus series depicted a space shuttle on the reverse; the 2002 Ohio statehood quarter had an astronaut on the reverse; and the 2011 New Frontier Congressional Gold Medal celebrated the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11.

There are plans to release a special coin as per the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act, which in 2019 would celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.