2019 Native American $1 Coin & Currency Set

The 2019 Native American $1 Coin reverse (tails side) design highlights the contributions of Native Americans to the U.S. Space Program. American Indians have been on the modern frontier of space flight since its infancy. American Indian contributions to the U.S. Space Program culminated in the three spacewalks of John Herrington (Chickasaw) on the International Space Station in 2002. These and other pioneering achievements date back to the work of Mary Golda Ross (Cherokee), one of the first female American Indian engineers. She helped develop the Agena spacecraft for the Gemini and Apollo Programs.

The reverse design features Mary Golda Ross writing calculations. The formula is an example Ms. Ross could have used to calculate interplanetary space travel, determine the departure plane orbit, and transfer orbit energy. Behind her, an Atlas-Agena rocket launches into space, with an equation inscribed in its cloud. An astronaut, symbolic of Native American astronauts—including Herrington—spacewalks above. In the field behind, a group of stars indicates outer space.

Reverse inscriptions are “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and “$1.” The 2019 Native American $1 Coin has a special enhanced uncirculated finish and was minted at the Philadelphia Mint.

The $1 Series 2017 note is from one of the 12 Federal Reserve Bank locations across the U.S. and features a serial number beginning with “1959” to correspond to the launch year of the Agena spacecraft depicted on reverse of the coin.