American Innovation 2020 $1 Reverse Proof Coin - Maryland

The United States Mint American Innovation $1 Coin Program is a multi-year series to honor innovation and innovators with $1 coins from each State, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands.

The United States Mint is proud to celebrate innovation and honor the spirit of America with the 2020 American Innovation $1 Reverse Proof Coin from the State of Maryland—the third release of 2020.

The Hubble Space Telescope was the first major optical telescope to be used in space. First conceived in the 1940s, it was initially called the Large Space Telescope. In 1977, Congress approved its funding and NASA chose Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, to be the lead in scientific instrument design and ground control for the space observatory. In 1983, the Space Telescope Science Institute was established at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University.

The Large Space Telescope was later renamed in honor of American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble and launched on April 24, 1990.

For three decades, the Hubble Space Telescope has been probing some of the faintest and farthest reaches of the universe. It has produced more than 1.4 million observations data astronomers have used to publish some 16,000 peer-reviewed scientific publications on a broad range of topics.

The obverse (heads) design features a dramatic representation of the Statue of Liberty in profile with the inscriptions “IN GOD WE TRUST” and “$1.” It also includes a privy mark of a stylized gear, representing industry and innovation.

The reverse (tails) design depicts the Hubble Space Telescope orbiting the Earth surrounded by a field of stars. The inscriptions are “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE,” and “MARYLAND.”

The edge-incused inscriptions are “2020,” “S” mint mark, and “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”