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Message:: [QUOTE="TheNickelGuy, post: 8262563, member: 20201"]1962 Project MercuryHeraldic Art Medalso-called half dollar [ATTACH=full]1457436[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1457437[/ATTACH] This Heraldic Art Medal has a lower mintage than others at 3,500 and they usually fetch a significant premium. John H. Glenn, Jr. (July 18, 1921 - December 8, 2016) became the first American to orbit the Earth in the Mercury spacecraft, named "Friendship 7" on Feb. 20, 1962, then left NASA and went into politics, serving as a US Senator from 1974 to 1999. He flew on Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-95 mission at age 77 in 1998 as a Payload Specialist.Glenn was a distinguished fighter pilot in World War II, China and Korea. He shot down three MiG-15s, and was awarded six Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen Air Medals. Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. This medal commemorates "Telstar 1" launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962.It successfully relayed through space the first television pictures, telephone calls, and telegraph images, and provided the first live transatlantic television feed. Telstar 2 launched May 7, 1963. Telstar 1 and 2—though no longer functional—still orbit the Earth. [ATTACH=full]1457438[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]