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Author Topic:   STS-114 Space Flight Awareness Team Award
Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 46592
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 02-22-2007 07:38 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
When space shuttle Discovery launched on the STS-114 "Return to Flight" mission in July 2005, stowed inside its Official Flight Kit (OFK) were "2 Metal Ingots" flown for NASA's Space Flight Awareness Office. These two blocks were listed as item 13e in the OFK manifest.

As earlier missions had carried similar metal blocks that were later smelted with other alloy to mint commemorative medals, I made some inquiries at the time of the flight and learned that a design and plan for a new "Manned Flight Awareness" medal did indeed exist.

And then I heard nothing more.

Last night, while browsing the Johnson Space Center's Spaceflight Awareness Office website for STS-117 material, I found their program plan for 2007. Page eight of that PDF includes images of their "Program Products" such as posters, Silver Snoopys, mission flags, decals and coins.

The latter includes this example image:

It's difficult to read but the inscription on the medal appears to read:

This coin contains metal flown aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-114, July 26 - August 9, 2005
What isn't clear is if this is (still) a future product or just an example for illustration purposes. The page also uses an image of a 2006 STS-116 mission flag to represent the flags in general.

Hopefully, SFA will go forth with issuing the STS-114 medal (if they haven't already and it has just gone unnoticed). The most recent medal in the series of flown metal-minted commemoratives was released six years ago for STS-98 and the Destiny ISS lab.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 46592
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-19-2008 07:19 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Spotted (in April 2008) on eBay:

...so the STS-114 Spaceflight Awareness medal exists.

teopze
Member

Posts: 188
From: Ithaca, NY
Registered: May 2008

posted 05-08-2008 06:11 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for teopze   Click Here to Email teopze     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The medallion pictured belongs to me now. I bought it on eBay about two weeks ago. When I noticed it, I knew it was exceptional.

I don't know how many of them exist (any ideas?), but I do know that this is the most beautiful medallion I have ever seen, and I have seen quite a lot of coins/medallion related to spaceflight in my life, trust me.

Definitely this is the most detailed and well finished medallion that contains flown material.

It is simply fantastic. When I showed it to my girlfriend the only word she said was "Wow!"

This particular one was given to David H. by the astronaut Kay Hire. It is slightly larger (44.2mm) than a typical space shuttle coin, the thickens is 20.4mm. I do not think it is made of bronze nor silver not aluminum (that I'm sure of). I will take it soon to the physics division and do the X-ray spectroscopy. I will try to post the results soon.

Winco
Member

Posts: 14
From: Chatsworth, CA USA
Registered: Jun 2008

posted 06-20-2008 03:19 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Winco   Click Here to Email Winco     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I am the president of Winco International. We have been producing the vast majority of NASA's and the aerospace industry's officially used space pins since the 1980's. We also have produced many space coins as well. The coin you have reported on was in fact produced/minted by Winco (It is called the SFA Team Award Coin).

teopze
Member

Posts: 188
From: Ithaca, NY
Registered: May 2008

posted 09-07-2008 01:25 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for teopze   Click Here to Email teopze     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Today I was taking pictures of my medallions and thought that some of you would like to have a better picture of this moderately rare STS-114 Team Award medallion. So, here it is:

racso184
Member

Posts: 39
From: Katy, Texas
Registered: Aug 2009

posted 09-05-2009 12:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for racso184   Click Here to Email racso184     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Just wondering. Looking at the description and the images here and at eBay, is there a gold and silver colored version of the same medallion? Can anyone here confirm this?

teopze
Member

Posts: 188
From: Ithaca, NY
Registered: May 2008

posted 09-07-2009 07:25 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for teopze   Click Here to Email teopze     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
To my knowledge, there is only one, silver colored version.

Rocket Chris
Member

Posts: 389
From: Guttentag
Registered: Nov 2009

posted 11-11-2009 05:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Rocket Chris   Click Here to Email Rocket Chris     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
To my knowledge just around 150 coins were minted just for the "return to flight" launch and assessment teams.

base104
Member

Posts: 10
From:
Registered: Feb 2010

posted 02-19-2010 12:51 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for base104   Click Here to Email base104     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This link shows the individual recipients of the award... less than 900 so far.

denali414
Member

Posts: 781
From: Raleigh, NC
Registered: Aug 2017

posted 01-27-2018 02:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for denali414   Click Here to Email denali414     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Oddly after never seeing this medallion for the better part of a year, I have picked up two over the last month. Always strange how sometimes medallions come in cycles.

Chuckster01
Member

Posts: 1040
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Jan 2014

posted 01-27-2018 06:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Chuckster01   Click Here to Email Chuckster01     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I purchased two of these about five years ago one week apart (sold one on the American Space Museum auction) and have never seen another.

MartinAir
Member

Posts: 73
From:
Registered: Oct 2020

posted 06-27-2021 03:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for MartinAir   Click Here to Email MartinAir     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Does anyone know when was the STS-114 medallion issued?

I've seen paperwork (including STS-114 crew photo, mission decal and pins) a memorandum issued by Lockheed Martin to employees, honoring the STS-107 and the return to flight STS-114 missions. It was dated July 7, 2005. Not sure whether the medal was part of it though.

Dave_Johnson
Member

Posts: 133
From:
Registered: Feb 2014

posted 07-10-2021 06:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Dave_Johnson   Click Here to Email Dave_Johnson     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Having seen this thread resurrected, I did a search on eBay for the medallion, and found one right away.

This surprised me, given the note about it being moderately rare in this thread. Is this still the case? The one I found and bought appears to have been listed for almost a year, so I am a bit concerned with its authenticity, considering it was listed for that long. A comparison of the small details on it with those of the photos in this thread match, and the size is the same (within measurement error) as noted above (although the thickness is 2+ mm instead of the 20.4mm noted - that would be one thick medallion!). There was no paperwork associated with this medallion.

Any idea if these have ever been faked?

tnperri
Member

Posts: 495
From: Malvern, Ohio
Registered: Jun 2011

posted 07-10-2021 08:07 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for tnperri   Click Here to Email tnperri     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This coin has no fakes that I am aware. Only the Curiosity rover medal has known fakes and the Apollo 11 die medal has copies (made by the company for its employees).

I am guessing this sat for a while because of the price. While expensive back in the day not so much anymore.

MartinAir
Member

Posts: 73
From:
Registered: Oct 2020

posted 07-11-2021 04:55 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MartinAir   Click Here to Email MartinAir     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
What has caused the drop in the price? Lack of demand, more medallions were issued than assumed or both?

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 46592
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-11-2021 06:38 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The award was only meant to be presented to team members, so at first seemed as they would be the only source. Then an eBay dealer listed a quantity, and others were sold, which satisfied the initial demand. (Were this an Apollo-era medallion, there would likely be more of a steady demand.)

tnperri
Member

Posts: 495
From: Malvern, Ohio
Registered: Jun 2011

posted 07-11-2021 07:11 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for tnperri   Click Here to Email tnperri     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My guess is that most older collectors already have it (since they have been available for a while) and the newer collectors aren't willing to spend as much or there is less "new" collectors to drive the price.

Dennis Beatty
Member

Posts: 370
From:
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 07-12-2021 08:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Dennis Beatty   Click Here to Email Dennis Beatty     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
What is the current price range for these medallions? Thanks!

tnperri
Member

Posts: 495
From: Malvern, Ohio
Registered: Jun 2011

posted 07-12-2021 09:16 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for tnperri   Click Here to Email tnperri     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Checked eBay and it had two sold - one for $75 and one for $150. Generally I'd say the lower side the two.

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