On Monday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that requires the Secretary of the Treasury to issue a special commemorate coin for the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Apollo moon landing. The bill, titled H.R. 2726 demands the Treasury create a variety of convex coins “to more closely resemble the visor of the astronaut’s helmet of the time.” They will hold a contest to decide on the specific designs, which should be “emblematic of the United States space program.”
To pass, the Senate must unanimously vote approve the bill, and then President Trump gets to decide whether to sign it into law. We can only hope our dear leaders move beyond their partisan politics in order for space coins to happen. H.R. 2726 emphasizes that these commemorate coins “will not result in any net cost to the United States Government,” so hopefully it will pass.
The bill necessitates the treasury create $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins. The treasury will sell the coins with a $10-$50 surcharge, depending on which one you want. The proceeds will benefit the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum’s “Destination 3 Moon” exhibit, the Astronauts Memorial Foundation and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
The main issue with all this is that if we’re going to make space coins, we ought to include currency people use more frequently. Imagine a world with a space penny, a space nickel, a space dime and a space quarter. In the ideal vision of America, space coins are a right, not a privilege.
[U.S. Government via The Verge]