Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Dollars Space Shuttle Columbia
| Issuer | Republic of the Marshall Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 1991 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The Space Shuttle Columbia is depicted in a dramatic top-down aerial view, shown in orbital flight with the legend USA inscribed on its delta wing. The shuttle dominates the central field, rendered in fine detail with payload bay doors, engine nacelles, and vertical stabilizer clearly delineated. Vapour trails and cloud formations sweep dynamically around the craft, evoking the sensation of high-speed spaceflight. The arc legend SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA runs along the upper periphery, while the commemorative dates 1981 and 1991 flank the lower field. The denomination, rendered as a stylized 5 over FIVE DOLLARS, appears in the lower right field, accompanied by the engraver's signature mark. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA 5 FIVE DOLLARS 1981-1991 |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Columbia's 1991 mission — STS-40, a Spacelab Life Sciences flight focused on biomedical research — was underway when many of these coins were being distributed. The Marshall Islands aggressively pursued the commemorative coin market throughout the early 1990s, issuing dozens of $5 copper-nickel pieces aimed squarely at collector packets rather than circulation, with KM#37 being one of several space-themed entries in that run.
Columbia was lost on February 1, 2003, during re-entry on mission STS-107, a fact that lends these otherwise mass-produced souvenirs an unintended historical weight.