Today’s Tough Trivia question: Mint marks are small letters which denote which mint produced which coin, and today, in the United States, they appear near the date (though that was not always the case: some earlier coins had the mint marks on the opposite side of the coin from the date). Currently, there are four US mints producing and marking coins. Name them by their letter codes. Previously, there were five other US Mints marking coins. Can you name them?

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Yesterday’s question was: Ignoring the conspiracy theorists and science deniers, we know that twelve people have so far walked on Earth’s Moon. How many of them can you name? (Bonus: which of the Apollo missions did not land on the Moon?)

The answer is:

Apollo 11, launched July 16 and returned July 24, 1969. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were on the Moon for 21 hours, 36 minutes, from July 20 to 21, while Command Module Pilot Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit.

Apollo 12, launched November 14 returned November 24, 1969. Commander Charles “Pete” Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean spent almost 32 hours on the Moon, from November 19 to 20, while Command Module Pilot Richard Gordon remained in lunar orbit.

Apollo 14, launched January 31 and returned February 9, 1971. Commander Alan Shepard and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell spent 33 hours on the Moon, from February 5 to 6, while Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa remained in lunar orbit.

Apollo 15, launched July 26 and returned August 7, 1971. On the first mission to use the lunar rover, Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin spent 67 hours on the Moon, from July 30 to August 2, while Command Module Pilot Alfred Worden remained in lunar orbit.

Apollo 16, launched April 16 and returned April 27, 1972. Commander John Young and Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke spent 71 hours on the Moon, from April 21 to 24, while Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa remained in lunar orbit.

Apollo 17, launched December 7 and returned December 19, 1972. Commander Eugene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt spent 75 hours on the Moon, from December 11 to 14, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans remained in lunar orbit.

Apollo 13 did not reach the Moon. Launched April 11, 1970, an explosion in one of the oxygen tanks on April 13 severely damaged the spacecraft and prevented it from landing on the Moon. Commander James Lovell, Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise, and Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert returned safely on April 17, 1970.

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Ian’s Tough Trivia is a daily feature of this blog. Each day, I post a tough question, as well as the answer to the previous day’s question. At some point, I’ll offer a prize for whoever has the most correct answers, and another for whoever participates most often (I’ll take into account people coming in after the start: regular participation starting later is just as good as regular participation starting earlier). There may also be a prize for the funniest or most amusing wrong answer. Simply comment on this post with your answer. I’ll approve the comments after the next question is posted. Sure, you can probably find the answers by searching the web, but what’s the fun in that?

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