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NASA space-flown Apollo medallions were mission-specific commemorative medallions which were approved by NASA and carried aboard the mission spacecraft into orbit. Apollo 8 (December 21 – 27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit, and also the first human spaceflight to reach another astronomical object, the Moon, which the crew orbited without landing. The astronauts, Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, were the first humans to witness and photograph an earthrise.
The medallions were struck by the Robbins Company in sterling silver and ordered by the mission crew as a personal memento of their flight. A total of over 3,000 Robbins medallions were flown into space across the 12 crewed flights of the Apollo program.Photograph credit: Heritage Auctions; commissioned by the NASA astronaut office