The House of Representatives passed commemorative coin legislation Tuesday that would issue silver and gold coins honoring NASA’s 50th anniversary this year. The legislation, H.R. 6455, was introduced and passed swiftly in five days.

Praiseworthy speed? Perhaps not… Consider first that H.R. 6455 is nearly identical to H.R. 2750, which the House had already passed in 2007. And for all practical purposes, it’s identical to the Senate’s June passage of S. 2159.

Before getting into why there are three bills, its more important to know what the passage of any one of them means to coin collectors. Each bill would authorize the United States Mint to issue:

• 300,000 one-ounce silver dollars for each of 9 designs depicting the 8 planets, plus 1 coin for dwarf planets (Pluto)

• 50,000 one-ounce $50 gold coins depicting the sun and emblematic of US astronaut sacrifices

The $50 gold coin would only be issued as part of a complete set with the 9 silver commemoratives. All coins would be 2008 dated to honor the 50th anniversary of NASA’s first day of operations on October 1, 1958.

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Coin legislation entitled NASA 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act (S. 2159) should receive the President’s signature in short order.

The Senate unanimously passed the act on Thursday, June 19, which follows unanimous passage by the House for the same named bill on July 30, 2007.

The legislation authorizes the United States Mint to issue:

• 300,000 silver $1 dollar coins from each of 9 designs, and

• 50,000 $50 one-ounce gold coins

The NASA commemoratives would be minted in "proof quality only." The proposed nine various designs for the silver coins add an extra level of intrigue to these commemoratives that is sure to peak interest.

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It was introduced only last month but The NASA 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act passed the House and is now in the Senate’s hands for likely approval.

The Act authorizes the United States Mint to produce a $50 gold coin and nine; yes, that’s nine $1 silver coins. It also allows for a bronze duplicate of the gold coin.

The timeline? NASA started on October 1, 1958 so the commemorative coins would have to be released next year.

These new coins would be Proof quality only. They certainly have the potential to be intriguing and popular coins for collectors. The $50 coin is set to contain 1 troy ounce of fine gold and limited to only 50,000. Its Obverse would have an image of the sun and the Reverse "shall bear a design emblematic of the sacrifice of the United States astronauts who lost their lives in the line of duty…"

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