Native Americans have been at the forefront of spaceflight since the creation of NASA. Their contributions to the US space program culminated with John Herrington (Chickasaw Nation) spacewalk on the International Space Station in 2002. This and other pioneering achievements can be traced back to the work of Mary Golda Ross (Cherokee Nation). Considered the first Native American engineer in the US space program, Ross helped develop the Agena spacecraft for the Gemini and Apollo space programs.

The obverse (head) retains the "Sacagawea" design first released in 2000. It shows Sacagawea carrying her infant son, Jean Baptiste.

The reverse (tails) depicts Mary Golda Ross's calculations. In the background is an Atlas Agena rocket being launched into space, with an equation written in the cloud. The equation for the energy required to leave Earth and reach the orbit of a distant planet represents its important contribution to the space program. The astronaut, a symbol of Native American astronauts including John Herrington, walks into outer space. A group of stars on the field behind indicates outer space.