A Pella man has been recognized for pioneering efforts to see Congress authorize an Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coin.

Michael Olson was awarded the U.S. Mint Director's Award earlier this year for proposing the mints issue the coins in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing after the Apollo 11 mission launched July 16, 1969, landed the Apollo Lunar Module on July 20, 1969, and returned to Earth on July 24, 1969.

The coin was issued in 2019 and has won several accolades, including the prestigious 2021 Coin of the Year award.

"What makes the 2019 Apollo 11 50th anniversary 5-ounce silver proof coin unique is that it is the only U.S. coin of that size to be struck in a concave/convex fashion," OIson said. "In other words, it is not flat."

Olson currently works at the Lincoln Savings Bank in Grinnell as a commercial lender, leading government relations. He is an alumni of the University of Northern Iowa and also a retired Iowa Army National Guard lieutenant colonel.

In 2009, Olson was appointed by the Treasury Department to one of the four Congressional leadership seats on the U.S. Mint's Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, which is tasked with recommending themes and designs for all U.S. coins and Congressional gold medals. It was in 2014, during his tenure on the CCAC, that Olson proposed the idea for the coin.

"Just prior to heading to Washington, D.C., for one of my final Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meetings in 2014, I watched the movie 'Apollo 13' for what was probably the 20th time," Olson said. "And it occurred to me that the 50th anniversary of the moon landing was coming up in 2019. I made a proposal to the committee to include this recommendation in the annual report and it passed unanimously."

The journey wasn't so simple, though.

The Coinage Act of 1792 stipulates that the U.S. Mint requires Congress to pass a bill in order to authorize the making of a coin. Previous bills to honor the 25th anniversary of the Moon landing and NASA's 50th anniversary failed. Yet after tenacious lobbying, the legislation, which was introduced in 2015, passed without opposition and was signed into law in December 2016.

"Having been involved with the Iowa Bankers Association in their government relations efforts definitely gave me the tools I needed to get the ball rolling," Olson said. "But I never imagined how hard it would be to get it done."

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Pella banker awarded for pioneering efforts to see Congress authorize 2019's Apollo 11 commemorative coin(https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2021/07/15/pella-iowa-man-earns-us-mint-director-award-apollo-11-coin/7919522002/)