Well I know it's not a U.S coin, but I have no idea what it is. It says Sterling on the rim as well as an alphanumeric set p0332.
How odd that it depicts a Soviet style rocket rather than any we ever launched, either before or since the establishment of NASA.
It might be a poorly executed Jupiter booster used in Explorer I, but that flared out portion would have to represent the outgassing, and it was a night launch. Hmm.
It's a Juno I rocket. My best guess, what appears to be a launch platform is actually a poorly realized design (or a poor design, period) of the launch gases as the rocket lifts off. As mentioned by @V. Kurt Bellman, it was used to launch Explorer 1, the first successful US orbital mission. FWIW, the Juno was a modified Jupiter rocket (specifically a Jupiter-C) with a 4th stage mounted on top. While I don't know about all the unmanned launches, to the best of my knowledge the US only used a launch platform for the 3 manned Skylab missions and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). The reason for this was these four missions used the Saturn I-B rocket AFTER the Saturn V missions were completed. The Saturn V was SIGNIFICANTLY larger than the I-B, so to use the same launch pad a (so called "milking stool") launch platform was constructed, so that the Saturn V launch tower architecture did not have to be changed. Here's a "double exposure" picture of the Skylab launch vehicles. On the left is the Skylab space station. It was the last Saturn V ever used (albeit the 3rd stage was modified from the "standard" format used for the manned Saturn V missions). On the right is the Saturn I-B rocket used to launch men to the Skylab space station. Notice the "milking stool".
Your medal is part of a collaboration between the Wittnauer Mint and the American Bank Note company to manufacture a series of sterling silver medals (also 24 KT gold over sterling silver) to commemorate the U.S. Presidents. Produced in 1972 (ends with Richard M. Nixon). Google "Longines Wittnauer AND Eisenhower" to get more information first hand.
