Coins, of course, are the first thing we think of. Banknotes also carry space program themes. For example, the US had a military payment certificate (MPC) with a Gemini spacewalk on it. Here is a medal struck from the recovered booster stage of Apollo 11. There were created by the Lincoln Mint for NASA. The coins were presented to NASA employees and contractors.
Here's another. one It's housed in a 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 flip with printed text opposite of the medallion that states, "Actual metal from "The Eagle", the Apollo 11 landing module was used in the processing of this medallion." I forgot to mention,... I paid $1.00 for it out of a dealers junk box.
Damn, I’m jealous. I have a few of these with Space Shuttle and Skylab metal, but no moon shots. I also have a few that the seller claimed had space shuttle metal but there is no statement on the back – only an advertisement for a cruise ship. Not sure about those.
Right... as if... But that is what mine claimed, also. So, I tracked down the truth. By finding other auction listings (in real auction catalogs from actual numismatic auction houses, not eBay) I learned that these from the Lincoln Mint were ordered by NASA, and we given out with a Certificate of Thanks to "employees", actually mostly to aerospace contractor company employees. So, I guess that I am satisfied with that aspect. However, on my own flip insert, I have "from the booster stage" because that is also the real and honest truth. The "Eagle" never returned to Earth. Other space collectibles that I have include canceled covers. Engineers and others printed up these envelopes, stamped them, and had them cancelled at Cape Canaveral, and other places. My favorite is for a "Secret Spy Satellite." Only in America...
Pretty neat. The ones I want are these: www.collectspace.com/news/news-072099a.html www.space.com/news/liberty_bell_991116.html the Mercury Dimes that Gus Grissom took into space. I have John Glenn's autograph on a Space Card, one of a series of about 50 of which I have about 40 from when I was a kid in 1961. I worked on the Space Coast in 1998-1999 for NASA contractors. There is a lot of "space flown" stuff there. Someone puts something small up inside some place on the Shuttle and when it comes home they take it off and give it to a grandkid or someone. But one do-dad looks like another and being in orbit does nothing discernable to it. Wrenches, screwdrivers, used paper cups... what do you want... and having it, how would you know? Now, there are places where you can buy helmets, space suits, and such, pricey, but genuine items.
I realize this is an old thread, but for reference, the information presented by it is incorrect. For the medallion pictured by the first post (commonly referred to as the NASA Manned Flight Awareness Apollo 11 medallion), the source of the flown metal was not a recovered booster. The stages (sections) of the Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo 11 were left to sink into the ocean. Rather, the metal from Eagle was from a clamp used in the pulley system that loaded rocks from the Moon's surface into the lunar module, with the remainder of the system still remaining at Tranquility Base, the lunar landing site. The metal from Columbia was from a bolt used to fasten the heat shield which protected the module during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. There were 200,000 of these medallions minted for NASA by the Barco Mint of New Orleans. -- Robert Pearlman, Editor collectSPACE - The Source for Space History & Artifacts http://www.collectspace.com/
Not a "flown" item, or even a NASA-approved item, but it is the newst addition to my list of minted items - a prototype $2 circulating coin:
