II 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2726 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 6, 2016 

Received 

AN ACT 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint commemorative coins in recognition of the 50th anniversary of 

the first manned landing on the Moon. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Apollo 11 50th Anni3 versary Commemorative Coin Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 spacecraft 

7 launched from Launch Complex 39A at the John F. 

8 Kennedy Space Center carrying Neil Armstrong, 

9 Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, who would become 

10 the first of mankind to complete a crewed lunar 

11 landing. 

12 (2) The United States is the only country ever 

13 to have attempted and succeeded in landing humans 

14 on a celestial body off the Earth and safely return15 ing them home, completing an unprecedented engi16 neering, scientific and political achievement. 

17 (3) The Apollo 11 mission, culminating in 

18 man’s first steps on the Moon on July 20, 1969, 

19 honored the fallen astronauts of the Apollo 1 crew, 

20 whose innovative work and bravery will be remem21 bered forever. 

22 (4) Apollo 11 accomplished the national goal set 

23 forth in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, who 

24 stated at Rice University the following year, ‘‘We 

25 choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the 

26 Moon in this decade and do the other things, not beVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:02 Dec 11, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2726.RDS H2726

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1 cause they are easy, but because they are hard, be2 cause that goal will serve to organize and measure 

3 the best of our energies and skills, because that 

4 challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one 

5 we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we in6 tend to win’’. 

7 (5) At the height of the Cold War, the Apollo 

8 space program provided the United States and the 

9 free world with a powerful symbolic win, dem10 onstrating the strength, ambition, and determination 

11 of the United States in technological and economic 

12 advancement, and securing our Nation’s leadership 

13 in space for generations to come. 

14 (6) The National Aeronautics and Space Ad15 ministration’s (referred to in this Act as ‘‘NASA’’) 

16 Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala17 bama, designed, assembled, and tested the most 

18 powerful launch vehicle in history, the Saturn V 

19 rocket, which was used for the Apollo missions in 

20 the 1960s and 1970s. 

21 (7) The Saturn V weighed 6,200,000 pounds 

22 and generated 7,600,000 pounds of thrust, which 

23 NASA has equated to generating more power than 

24 86 Hoover Dams. 


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1 (8) During the time period from 1969 through 

2 1972, NASA completed eight Apollo missions and 

3 landed 12 men on the Moon. The 6 missions that 

4 landed on the Moon returned with a wealth of 

5 groundbreaking scientific data and over 800 pounds 

6 of lunar samples. 

7 (9) An estimated 400,000 Americans contrib8 uted to the successful program that led to the lunar 

9 landing on July 20, 1969, including NASA sci10 entists, engineers, astronauts, industry contractors 

11 and their engineering and manufacturing workforce, 

12 as well as the political leadership of Republicans and 

13 Democrats in Congress and the White House. 

14 (10) The Apollo program, along with its prede15 cessor Mercury and Gemini programs, inspired gen16 erations of American students to pursue careers in 

17 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics 

18 (STEM), which has fueled innovation and economic 

19 growth throughout a range of industries over the 

20 last four decades. 

21 (11) July 20, 2019, will mark the 50th anniver22 sary of the Apollo 11 landing of Neil Armstrong and 

23 Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface. 


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1 SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS. 

2 (a) DENOMINATIONS.—In recognition and celebration 

3 of the 50th anniversary of the first manned Moon landing, 

4 the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act re5 ferred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall mint and issue the fol6 lowing coins: 

7 (1) $5 GOLD COINS.—Not more than 50,000 $5 

8 coins, which shall— 

9 (A) weigh 8.359 grams; 

10 (B) be struck on a planchet having a di11 ameter of 0.850 inches; and 

12 (C) contain not less than 90 percent gold. 

13 (2) $1 SILVER COINS.—Not more than 400,000 

14 $1 coins, which shall— 

15 (A) weigh 26.73 grams; 

16 (B) be struck on a planchet having a di17 ameter of 1.500 inches; and 

18 (C) contain not less than 90 percent silver. 

19 (3) HALF-DOLLAR CLAD COINS.—Not more 

20 than 750,000 half-dollar coins which shall— 

21 (A) weigh 11.34 grams; 

22 (B) be struck on a planchet having a di23 ameter of 1.205 inches; and 

24 (C) be minted to the specifications for half25 dollar coins contained in section 5112(b) of title 

26 31, United States Code. 


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1 (4) PROOF SILVER $1 COINS.—Not more than 

2 100,000 proof $1 silver coins which shall— 

3 (A) weigh 5 ounces; 

4 (B) be struck on a planchet having a di5 ameter of 3 inches; and 

6 (C) contain .999 fine silver. 

7 (b) LEGAL TENDER.—The coins minted under this 

8 Act shall be legal tender, as provided in section 5103 of 

9 title 31, United States Code. 

10 (c) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

11 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins 

12 minted under this Act shall be considered to be numis13 matic items. 

14 (d) CONVEX SHAPE.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The coins minted under this 

16 Act shall be produced in a fashion similar to the 

17 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame 75th Anniver18 sary Commemorative Coin, so that the reverse of the 

19 coin is convex to more closely resemble the visor of 

20 the astronaut’s helmet of the time and the obverse 

21 concave, providing a more dramatic display of the 

22 obverse design chosen pursuant to section 4(c). 

23 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

24 Congress that, to the extent possible without signifi25 cantly adding to the purchase price of the coins, the 


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1 coins minted under this Act should be produced with 

2 the design of the reverse of the coins continuing over 

3 what would otherwise be the edge of the coins, such 

4 that the reverse design extends all the way to the ob5 verse design. 

6 SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The design for the coins minted 

8 under this Act shall be— 

9 (1) selected by the Secretary after consultation 

10 with— 

11 (A) the Commission of Fine Arts; and 

12 (B) with respect to the design of the re13 verse of the coins, the Administrator of NASA; 

14 and 

15 (2) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory 

16 Committee. 

17 (b) DESIGNATIONS AND INSCRIPTIONS.—On each 

18 coin minted under this Act there shall be— 

19 (1) a designation of the denomination of the 

20 coin; 

21 (2) an inscription of the year ‘‘2019’’; and 

22 (3) inscriptions of the words ‘‘Liberty’’, ‘‘In 

23 God We Trust’’, ‘‘United States of America’’, and 

24 ‘‘E Pluribus Unum’’. 


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1 (c) SELECTION AND APPROVAL PROCESS FOR OB2 VERSE DESIGN.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall hold a 

4 juried, compensated competition to determine the 

5 design of the common obverse of the coins minted 

6 under this Act, with such design being emblematic 

7 of the United States space program leading up to 

8 the first manned Moon landing. 

9 (2) SELECTION PROCESS.—Proposals for the 

10 obverse design of coins minted under this Act may 

11 be submitted in accordance with the design selection 

12 and approval process developed by the Secretary in 

13 the sole discretion of the Secretary. 

14 (3) PROPOSALS.—As part of the competition 

15 described in this subsection, the Secretary may ac16 cept proposals from artists, engravers of the United 

17 States Mint, and members of the general public, and 

18 any designs submitted for the design review process 

19 described herein shall be anonymized until a final se20 lection is made. 

21 (4) COMPENSATION.—The Secretary shall de22 termine compensation for the winning design under 

23 this subsection, which shall be not less than $5,000. 

24 (d) REVERSE DESIGN.—The design on the common 

25 reverse of the coins minted under this Act shall be a repVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:02 Dec 11, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2726.RDS H2726

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1 resentation of a close-up of the famous ‘‘Buzz Aldrin on 

2 the Moon’’ photograph taken July 20, 1969, that shows 

3 just the visor and part of the helmet of astronaut Buzz 

4 Aldrin, in which the visor has a mirrored finish and re5 flects the image of the United States flag and the lunar 

6 lander and the remainder of the helmet has a frosted fin7 ish. 

8 SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS. 

9 (a) QUALITY OF COINS.—Except with respect to 

10 coins described under section 3(a)(4), coins minted under 

11 this Act shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities. 

12 (b) PERIOD FOR ISSUANCE.—The Secretary may 

13 issue coins minted under this Act only during the 1-year 

14 period beginning on January 1, 2019. 

15 SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS. 

16 (a) SALE PRICE.—The coins issued under this Act 

17 shall be sold by the Secretary at a price equal to the sum 

18 of— 

19 (1) the face value of the coins; 

20 (2) the surcharge provided in section 7(a) with 

21 respect to such coins; and 

22 (3) the cost of designing and issuing the coins 

23 (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, 

24 winning design compensation, overhead expenses, 

25 marketing, and shipping). 


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1 (b) BULK SALES.—The Secretary shall make bulk 

2 sales of the coins issued under this Act at a reasonable 

3 discount. 

4 (c) PREPAID ORDERS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall accept 

6 prepaid orders for the coins minted under this Act 

7 before the issuance of such coins. 

8 (2) DISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect to pre9 paid orders under paragraph (1) shall be at a rea10 sonable discount. 

11 SEC. 7. SURCHARGES. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—All sales of coins minted under 

13 this Act shall include a surcharge as follows: 

14 (1) A surcharge of $35 per coin for the $5 coin. 

15 (2) A surcharge of $10 per coin for the $1 coin 

16 described under section 3(a)(2). 

17 (3) A surcharge of $5 per coin for the half-dol18 lar coin. 

19 (4) A surcharge of $50 per coin for the $1 coin 

20 described under section 3(a)(4). 

21 (b) DISTRIBUTION.—Subject to section 5134(f) of 

22 title 31, United States Code, all surcharges received by 

23 the Secretary from the sale of coins issued under this Act 

24 shall be promptly paid by the Secretary as follows: 


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1 (1) one half to the Smithsonian Institution’s 

2 National Air and Space Museum’s ‘‘Destination 

3 Moon’’ exhibit, for design, education, and installa4 tion costs related to establishing and maintaining 

5 the exhibit, and for costs related to creating a trav6 eling version of the exhibition; 

7 (2) one quarter to the Astronauts Memorial 

8 Foundation, for costs related to the preservation, 

9 maintenance, and enhancement of the Astronauts 

10 Memorial and for promotion of space exploration 

11 through educational initiatives; and 

12 (3) one quarter to the Astronaut Scholarship 

13 Foundation, to aid its missions of promoting the im14 portance of science and technology to the general 

15 public and of aiding the United States in retaining 

16 its world leadership in science and technology by 

17 providing college scholarships for the very best and 

18 brightest students pursuing degrees in science, tech19 nology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). 

20 (c) AUDITS.—The recipients described under sub21 section (b) shall be subject to the audit requirements of 

22 section 5134(f)(2) of title 31, United States Code, with 

23 regard to the amounts received under subsection (b). 

24 (d) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), 

25 no surcharge may be included with respect to the issuance 


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1 under this Act of any coin during a calendar year if, as 

2 of the time of such issuance, the issuance of such coin 

3 would result in the number of commemorative coin pro4 grams issued during such year to exceed the annual com5 memorative coin program issuance limitation under sec6 tion 5112(m)(1) of title 31, United States Code (as in ef7 fect on the date of the enactment of this Act). The Sec8 retary of the Treasury may issue guidance to carry out 

9 this subsection. 

10 SEC. 8. FINANCIAL ASSURANCES. 

11 The Secretary shall take such actions as may be nec12 essary to ensure that— 

13 (1) minting and issuing coins under this Act 

14 will not result in any net cost to the United States 

15 Government; and 

16 (2) no funds, including applicable surcharges, 

17 are disbursed to any recipient designated in section 

18 7 until the total cost of designing and issuing all of 

19 the coins authorized by this Act (including labor, 

20 materials, dies, use of machinery, winning design 

21 compensation, overhead expenses, marketing, and 

22 shipping) is recovered by the United States TreasVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:02 Dec 11, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2726.RDS H2726

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1 ury, consistent with sections 5112(m) and 5134(f) of 

2 title 31, United States Code. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 5, 

2016. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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