The chaos on Earth disappears when you admire it from space. LPM coin, ‘Blue Marble’, features the iconic 1972 Apollo 17 image

Apollo 17 was the final mission in the hugely successful Apollo program, which NASA initiated in 1968 to put a man on the moon. The final mission, Apollo 17, took off on 07 December 1972, under the command of third-time astronaut, Eugene Cernan who, along with geologist, and Lunar Module Pilot, Harrison Schmitt, walked on the Moon. It’s sad when you realise it’s now been fifty years since a human being has walked on the Moon.

On very iconic thing to come from Apollo 17 was ‘Blue Marble’, a photograph of the Earth taken at an altitude of 29,000 kilometres, on one of the three Hasselblad cameras carried on the mission. Depicting the Earth from Antarctica to the Mediterranean Sea, including most of the African coastline, it became one of the most famous images in human history. Despite that, we still have morons today that think the Earth is flat…

Astronomy has always been a driver in the domed coin market, the distinctive shape lending itself well to the subject, so LPM Group are on solid ground with their latest one-ounce silver coin. It’s a simple reproduction, but when the subject is so beautiful, what more do you want? They’ve sensibly chosen the convex side for the image, with the concave obverse carrying the Fijian coat-of-arms and the inscribed issue and composition details.

The coin has a mintage of 1,000 pieces, quite low for the genre, and comes boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity. A coin that captures an iconic moment in human history, and one we feel collectors of astronomy coins in particular, will warm too. Available directly from LPM right now.