Coin, Commemorative
Object number2018.90.1
Datec. 1969
MediumMetal
Credit LineGIft of Alexander L. Valentine
DescriptionCoin depicting the moon landing, with one astronaut standing next to a U.S. flag on the moon, with text on front and back.DimensionsDiameter x Depth: 1.25 × 0.63 in. (3.2 × 1.6 cm)InscriptionsFront: “THE EAGLE HAS LANDED / JULY 20, 1969”.
Back: “This / Medallion / contains metal / from spacecrafts / Columbia and Eagle, / that took Astronauts / Armstrong, Aldrin, and / Collins on their historic / Apollo 11 mission that / resulted in the first / landing of man / on the Moon.”
Historical NotesCommemorative coin that belonged to the donor’s uncle Stanley Lewandowski. The Apollo 11 medallion, dated July 20, 1969, was given out to many employees and businesses that contributed to the Apollo program. The son of Polish immigrants, Stanley Lewandowski grew up in Braddock, near the Edgar Thomson steel mill where his father worked. He used his structural civil engineering degree from Carnegie Tech to get a job with Bechtel working on bridges and nuclear power plants. When Boeing contracted Bechtel for the Apollo Project, Lewandowski headed to Florida. This field notebook documents Lewandowski’s work on the Launch Umbilical Tower, LUT, which provided the support structure for the Saturn V rocket and the crawler-transporter, the massive steel platform that ferried the rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building (where it had been constructed) to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. Lewandowski spent more than eight years working with NASA as part of the team that designed, built, and tested these structures. The tests checked for any defects or weaknesses that might compromise the effectiveness of these launch facilities.Label TextThe work done by engineers on the ground proved vital to the safe and smooth operation of these critical launch structures.
Previous owner
Michael Collins
(1930 - 2021)
Related person
Neil Alden Armstrong
(1930 - 2012)
Related person
Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.
(born 1930)
Previous owner
Stanley A. Lewandowski
On View
Not on view
c. 1994
c. 1994
1964
1999
1921
1968
1979