Mintage:
Circulation strikes: 0
Proofs: 12 (39 struck, less 27 melted)

Designer: Obv: Glenna Goodacre.  Rev: Thomas D. Rogers, Sr.

Diameter: ±27 millimeters (the same diameter as half-ounce gold American Eagle coins -- normal Sacagawea Dollars measure 26.5 millimeters in diameter)

Metal content: 91.67% Gold

Weight: ± grams

Edge: Plain

Mintmark: "W" (for West Point) centered below the date

Notes:
39 Proof 2000-W Sacagawea Dollar coins were struck in 22 Karat gold at the West Point Mint in June 1999.  27 were melted and the remaining dozen examples were sent to space aboard the space shuttle Columbia, returning to earth five days later on July 22, 1999.  Thereafter, the coins were stored in a vault at the Mint Headquarters in Washington, DC.  One coin was displayed at a private congressional dinner on or about August 5, 1999.  One coin was displayed at the Philadelphia Mint during the first-strike ceremonies for the 2000-P Sacagawea circulation strike coins on November 18, 1999.  Sometime in August or September 2001, the dozen Proofs were sent to the Gold Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

The dies for the Gold Proofs were prepared with Thomas D. Rogers, Sr.'s original reverse design featuring 12 tail feathers.  Circulation strikes from other mints have 13 tail feathers.

Sources and/or recommended reading:
"Remember those real gold Sacagawea dollars?" by Paul Gilkes, COIN WORLD, September 17, 2001, front page and page 8

Tom Delorey's Letter to the Editor, COIN WORLD, September 24, 2001, page 11