In a surprise change to the production schedule for 2021, the United States Mint will begin sales of the 2021 Christa McAuliffe Commemorative Dollar later this week, on January 28th. Sales will begin at Noon Eastern, 9:00 AM Pacific and the commemorative will only be available directly from the United States Mint.
Traditionally, the Mint releases commemorative coins towards the middle of the year and here at USCoinNews.com, the assumption was that trend would continue. It would seem however that the Mint has already produced the 350,000 Proof and 350,000 Uncirculated specimens of the coin and are ready to start sales. It was only last week that the Mint updated its site with the official images of the coin.
The Mint has not released official pricing for the coin yet. With the coin being a 99.9% silver coin, the pricing will be based on the spot price for the precious metal on the day of release. The Mint has however indicated that there will be no household limit for the coins.
The coin commemoratives the Mrs. McAuliffe, the first selected educator in the Teacher in Space Program in the 1980s. She, along with six other astronauts were killed during the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51L mission on January 28, 1986.
The Act authorizing the coin was signed by Former President Trump on October 9, 2019, just eight days after the law passed in the Senate on October 1, 2019.