50 Dollars First American Satellite

The Marshall Islands began issuing commemorative coinage in 1986, shortly after gaining independence under the Compact of Free Association with the United States — a political arrangement that left Washington responsible for defense while Canberra and Majuro handled everything else. This coin marks the 1958 launch of Explorer 1, the first successful American satellite, which went up after the spectacular public failure of the Vanguard TV3 rocket in December 1957. Explorer 1 was a hasty salvage operation, handed to the Army's Jet Propulsion Laboratory after the Navy's program collapsed on live television.

The satellite's instruments, designed by James Van Allen, discovered the radiation belts that now bear his name.