posted 08-29-2025 04:02 PM               

US Mint to auction off gold coins launched aboard NASA space shuttle

Some of the first-ever coins to be flown into space on behalf of the United States government are about to exit Fort Knox for the auction block.

The United States Mint on Friday (Aug. 29) announced that seven 22-karat gold Sacagawea dollar coins that were launched on NASA's space shuttle Columbia in 1999 will be offered for the first time in a public auction on Sept. 12. Since returning to Earth, the coins have been held in the bullion depository in Kentucky, with the exception of a three-day public exhibit at the 2007 American Numismatic Association's World's Fair of Money in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

posted 09-12-2025 04:16 PM               

Space-flown US Mint gold coins soar past shuttle record at auction

Two 22-karat gold coins that spent almost five days in Earth orbit have set a new record for the most-ever paid for an artifact or memento flown aboard a space shuttle. The well-traveled currency sold for more than half a million dollars each at a United States Mint auction on Friday (Sept. 12).

The pair of Sacagawea dollars were offered alongside five others that were launched on NASA's space shuttle Columbia in 1999.