The twelfth silver coin in the Milky Way collectible series is dedicated to Alan Shepard, the first American in space.

On May 5, 1961, less than a month after the Soviet Union's triumph when the first man visited space, the United States achieved a similar feat. The Mercury‑ Redstone 3 spacecraft, with the call sign Freedom 7, which launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral, was the first manned craft of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA. It carried the first American astronaut and the second human in space. Thirty-seven-year-old test pilot Alan Shepard did not orbit the planet at the time - it was a suborbital flight in ballistic orbit. He spent only a few minutes in space, but still experienced weightlessness and a breathtaking view of his home planet. Unlike Yuri Gagarin, who could not control his spacecraft, he then tested the manual control during the landing. And that was not all - he became the fifth and oldest man to walk on the surface of the Moon in 1971...

The reverse side of the coin was dedicated by the medal maker Asamat Baltaev, DiS., to the launching American rocket Mercury‑ Redstone 3, which is depicted in authentic colours thanks to the colouring technology. The composition is supplemented with stylized space objects - planets, stars and vessels - and the English inscription PROJECT MERCURY. The obverse side of the coin humorously presents crop circles and a flying saucer, which illuminates the national emblem of Niue. This, together with the year of issue 2024 and the nominal value of 1 DOLLAR (NZD), is a necessary attribute of the foreign issuer of the coin - a Pacific island that provides the Czech Mint with a licence to mint its own commemorative coins.

You can save a coin dedicated to America's triumph in a collector's album full of interesting facts about the conquerors of space and our home galaxy.