Leading the campaign for a global response to NEOs and a closer exploration of their physical make up is former astronaut Russell Schweickart, who piloted the lunar module of Apollo 9 in 1969.

CNN: Space's threat to civilization

The award would be presented to each crewmember from all 12 three-man Apollo missions, including the Apollo 7 and 9 Earth-orbit flights as well as the Apollo 1 crew, which perished in a launch pad fire in 1967.

CNN: House approves moon rock giveaway to Apollo survivors

According to a recent Senate probe of the for-profit education industry, more than 60% of the students Apollo enrolled in 2008-9 had withdrawn by the middle of 2010.

FORBES: Apollo's $5 Million Course in Greed

At 180 feet tall and 12 feet in diameter, the Falcon 9 rocket is tiny in comparison to the football-field-long Saturn V rockets that carried Apollo spacecraft into orbit.

CNN: Historic launch of private rocket heralds new era