Obverse. Photo © Downies
  • 50 Cents 2009, KM# 1432, Australia, Elizabeth II, 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing
  • 50 Cents 2009, KM# 1432, Australia, Elizabeth II, 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing
Description

2009 was the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to the Moon and to celebrate this the Royal Australian Mint issued a NCLT (non-circulating legal tender) 50c for collectors. It was July 21st 1969 when the world sat glued to their television sets watching vision streamed from the Parkes radio telescope. 600 million viewers watched and listened to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin taking their first steps on the moon thanks to the Apollo 11 space mission.

Obverse

Fourth crowned portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II facing right, wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara.

The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara was a wedding present in 1947 from her grandmother, Queen Mary, who received it as a gift from the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland in 1893 on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke of York, later George V. Made by E. Wolfe & Co., it was purchased from Garrard & Co. by a committee organised by Lady Eve Greville. In 1914, Mary adapted the tiara to take 13 diamonds in place of the large oriental pearls surmounting the tiara. At first, Elizabeth wore the tiara without its base and pearls but the base was reattached in 1969. The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is one of Elizabeth's most recognisable pieces of jewellery due to its widespread use on British banknotes and coinage.

Engraver: Ian Rank-Broadley

ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2009
IRB

Reverse

The reverse depicts the Apollo Lunar Module on the moon with the Earth and stars above. It is pad printed with black paint to depict space giving the perspective of opposing skyscapes as though you are looking out the cockpit window of the orbiting Command Module.

The Apollo Lunar Module (LM) was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program by Grumman Aircraft to carry a crew of two from lunar orbit to the surface and back. Designed for lunar orbit rendezvous, it consisted of an ascent stage and descent stage, and was ferried to lunar orbit by its companion Command and Service Module (CSM), a separate spacecraft of approximately twice its mass, which also took the astronauts home to Earth. After completing its mission, the LM was discarded. It was capable of operation only in outer space; structurally and aerodynamically it was incapable of flight through the Earth's atmosphere. The Lunar Module was the first manned spacecraft to operate exclusively in the airless vacuum of space. It was the first, and to date only, crewed vehicle to land on a natural object in the solar system other than the Earth.

Engraver: Caitlin Goodall

LANDING
50 CENTS
40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOON

Edge
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Non-circulating)
Material Cupronickel
Weight 15.55 g
Diameter 31.5 mm
Thickness 3 mm
Shape polygon
Sides 12
Alignment Medal
Mint
Royal Australian Mint (RAM)

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