logistics as Expedition 56/57 crewmembers.

American Indian space coin

: The U.S. Mint will recognize the role of American Indians in the space program on a 2019 coin. Engineer Mary Golda Ross, whose work advanced the Agena rocket stage, features prominently on the Native American $1 coin, along with the contributions of American Indian astronauts including John Herrington. The U.S. Mint is scheduled to release the coin on Feb. 24.

Metal Earth

: Three new model kits celebrate the past and future of U.S. spaceflight. From Metal Earth, comes steel scale models of the Saturn V rocket and Apollo spacecraft for the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. A third model kit reproduces Boeing's Starliner crew capsule, which is slated to begin flying to the space station in 2019.

One small strike

:The United States Mint on Thursday (Dec. 13) marked the first strike of its Apollo 11 50th Anniversary coins during a ceremony at its Philadelphia facility. Only the second coins in the U.S. Mint's history to be curved, the coins feature iconic imagery from the first moon landing mission. Scheduled for release Jan. 24, the sale of the coins will benefit the Astronauts Memorial Foundation, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and the National Air and Space Museum's new "Destination Moon" gallery.

SpaceShipTwo reaches space

: For the first time in history, a commercial spacecraft built to carry paying passengers has been piloted into space. Mark Stucky and CJ Sturckow on Thursday (Dec. 13) rocketed to an altitude of 51 miles (83 km) on board Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. The flight earned the