New US Dollar Coin Honors Role of Native Americans in Space Program

By Robert Z. Pearlman 12 hours ago



The United States Mint's 2019 Native American dollar coin honors American Indians in the space program, from engineer Mary Golda Ross to Native American astronauts, including John Herrington. The U.S. Mint releases the coin for sale on Wednesday (Feb. 13) in 25-coin rolls, 100-coin bags and 250-coin boxes.(Image: © U.S. Mint)

John Herrington is looking forward to his new pocket change.

A former NASA astronaut who was the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly into space, Herrington is among the individuals celebrated by the U.S. Mint's 2019 Native American $1 coin. Set for release at noon EST (1700 GMT) on Wednesday (Feb. 13), the coin highlights the contributions of American Indians to the U.S. space program.

"Having a coin honoring a lot of different folks is really nice. Finding out you are going to be on it, at least in the form of a being in a spacesuit spacewalking, is fabulous. I was thrilled when I found out about it and honored," said Herrington in an interview with collectSPACE.com. [US Mint launches sale of coins celebrating Apollo 11 50th anniversary]

"I plan on purchasing some for my personal use and to give to friends and family," he said.

More:
https://www.space.com/us-dollar-coin-native-americans-space.html









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