Cook Islands – 2009 – 5 Dollars – Moon – 40th & 50th anniversaries (with a moon piece!) (PROOF)

Description

Country: Cook Islands
Year: 2009
Face value: 5 Dollars
Metal: Silver .925
Weight: 25 g
Diameter: 38.61 mm
Quality: Antique-finish
Mintage: 1’969 pcs.

By launching the space probe Luna 3 on October 4, 1959 the Soviet Union initiated a new step for the footrace to the moon. With a small camera the space probe succeeded to take first photos of the earths averted side of the moon which no human being has ever seen before – ?dark side of the moon?. The pictures were of poor quality; however the highlands and lowlands were clearly recognisable. The big dark ?Mare Moscoviense? is, among others, also visible.

However 10 years later the Americans succeeded to win the footrace. On July 21, 1969 at 3.56 o?clock CET, Neil Armstrong left the lunar module Apollo 11 and set foot on our next orb with the words ?That?s one small step for man, ? one? giant leap for mankind! ?

In memory of this double anniversary the new silver coin shows both sides of the moon in incredible detail. Besides, on the reverse of this coin a real moonstone is inlaid; a piece of the Lunar meteorite NWA 4881. A Lunar meteorite is a meteorite that is known to have originated on the Moon. Lunar origin is established by comparing the mineralogy, the chemical composition, and the isotopic composition between meteorites and samples from the Moon collected by the Apollo missions.