SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NASA 50th Anniver-
sary Commemorative Coin Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that— 
(1) the National Aeronautics and Space Admin-
istration began operation on October 1, 1958, with 
about 8,000 employees and an annual budget of 
$100,000,000; 
(2) over the next 50 years, the National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration has been involved 
in many defining events which have shaped the 
course of human history and demonstrated to the 
world the character of the people of the United 
States; 
(3) among the many firsts by the National Aer-
onautics and Space Administration are that— 
(A) on December 6, 1958, the United 
States launched Pioneer 3, the first United 
States satellite to ascend to an altitude of 
63,580 miles; 
(B) on March 3, 1959, the United States 
sent Pioneer 4 to the Moon, successfully mak-
ing the first United States lunar flyby;
(C) on April 1, 1960, the United States 
launched TIROS 1, the first successful mete-
orological satellite, observing Earth’s weather; 
(D) on May 5, 1961, Freedom 7, carrying 
Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr., was the first 
American space flight involving human beings; 
(E) on February 20, 1962, John Glenn be-
came the first American to circle the Earth, 
making 3 orbits in his Friendship 7 Mercury 
spacecraft; 
(F) on December 14, 1962, Mariner 2 be-
came the first spacecraft to commit a successful 
planetary flyby (Venus); 
(G) on April 6, 1965, the United States 
launched Intelsat I (also known as Early Bird 
1), the first commercial satellite (communica-
tions), into geostationary orbit; 
(H) on June 3 through 7, 1965, the sec-
ond piloted Gemini mission, Gemini IV, stayed 
aloft for 4 days, and astronaut Edward H. 
White 
II 
performed 
the 
first 
EVA 
or 
‘‘spacewalk’’ by an American; 
(I) on June 2, 1966, Surveyor 1 became 
the first American spacecraft to soft-land on 
the Moon;
(J) on May 31, 1971, the United States 
launched Mariner 9, the first mission to orbit 
another planet (Mars) beginning November 13, 
1971; 
(K) on April 12, 1981, the National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration launched the 
Space Shuttle Columbia on the first flight of 
the Space Transportation System (STS–1); 
(L) on June 18, 1983, the National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration launched 
Space Shuttle Challenger (STS–7) carrying 3 
mission specialists, including Sally K. Ride, the 
first woman astronaut; 
(M) in another historic mission, 2 months 
later, the National Aeronautics and Space Ad-
ministration launched STS–8 carrying the first 
black American astronaut, Guion S. Bluford; 
and 
(N) on July 23, 1999, the Space Shuttle 
Columbia’s 26th flight was led by Air Force 
Col. Eileen Collins, the first woman to com-
mand a Shuttle mission; 
(4) on April 9, 1959, the National Aeronautics 
and Space Administration unveiled the Mercury as-
tronaut corps, 7 men with ‘‘the right stuff’’: John
H. Glenn, Jr., Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Alan B. 
Shepard, Jr., M. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Coo-
per, Virgil I. ‘‘Gus’’ Grissom, and Donald K. 
‘‘Deke’’ Slayton; 
(5) on May 25, 1961, President John F. Ken-
nedy, reflecting the highest aspirations of the Amer-
ican people, proclaimed: ‘‘I believe this Nation 
should commit itself to achieving the goal, before 
this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon 
and returning him safely to Earth. No single space 
project in this period will be more impressive to 
mankind, or more important in the long-range explo-
ration of space; and none will be so difficult or ex-
pensive to accomplish.’’; 
(6) on September 19, 1961, the National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration announced that 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
center dedicated to human space flight would be 
built in Houston, Texas; 
(7) on February 17, 1973, the Manned Space-
craft Center in Houston was renamed the Lyndon 
B. Johnson Space Center; 
(8) on December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 took off 
atop a Saturn V booster from the Kennedy Space 
Center for a historic mission to orbit the Moon;
(9) as Apollo 8 traveled outward, the crew fo-
cused a portable television camera on Earth and for 
the first time humanity saw its home from afar, a 
tiny, lovely, and fragile ‘‘blue marble’’ hanging in 
the blackness of space; 
(10) this transmission and viewing of Earth 
from a distance was an enormously significant ac-
complishment and united the Nation at a time when 
American society was in crisis over Vietnam, race re-
lations, urban problems, and a host of other difficul-
ties; 
(11) on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts 
Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin made the 
first lunar landing mission while Michael Collins or-
bited overhead in the Apollo command module; 
(12) Armstrong set foot on the surface of the 
Moon, telling the millions of listeners that it was 
‘‘one small step for a man, one giant leap for man-
kind’’, and Aldrin soon followed and planted an 
American flag, but omitted claiming the land for the 
United States, as had routinely been done during 
European exploration of the Americas; 
(13) the 2 Moon walkers left behind an Amer-
ican flag and a plaque bearing the inscription: 
‘‘Here Men From The Planet Earth First Set Foot
Upon the Moon. Jul. 1969 A.D. We Came in Peace 
for All Mankind.’’; 
(14) on April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Tele-
scope was launched into space aboard the STS–31 
mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery, and since 
then, the Hubble has revolutionized astronomy, while 
expanding our knowledge of the universe and inspir-
ing millions of scientists, students, and members of 
the public with its unprecedented deep and clear im-
ages of space; 
(15) on July 4, 1997, the Mars Pathfinder 
landed on Mars and on January 29, 1998, an Inter-
national Space Station agreement among 15 coun-
tries met in Washington, DC, to sign agreements to 
establish the framework for cooperation among the 
partners on the design, development, operation, and 
utilization of the Space Station; 
(16) the National Aeronautics and Space Ad-
ministration’s stunning achievements over the last 
50 years have been won for all mankind at great 
cost and sacrifice; in the quest to explore the uni-
verse, many National Aeronautics and Space Admin-
istration employees have lost their lives, including 
the crews of Apollo 1, the Space Shuttle Challenger, 
and the Space Shuttle Columbia;