Moon tree

Bicentennial Moon Tree, planted in 1975 in Washington Square, Philadelphia

Moon trees are trees grown from 500 seeds taken into orbit around the moon by Stuart Roosa during the Apollo 14 mission in 1971. As the Command Module Pilot on the Apollo 14 mission, and because he was a former smoke jumper, Roosa was contacted by Ed Cliff, who was the Chief of the Forest Service at the time, and who proposed the idea of taking the seeds along. Seeds for the experiment were chosen from five different types of trees: Loblolly Pine, Sycamore, Sweetgum, Redwood, and Douglas Fir.

Trees used

After the flight the seeds were sent to the southern Forest Service station in Gulfport, Mississippi, and to the western station in Placerville, California, with the intent to germinate them. Nearly all the seeds germinated successfully, and the Forest Service had some 420 to 450 seedlings after a few years. Some of these were planted alongside their earth-bound counterparts, which were specifically set aside as controls. After over twenty years there is no discernible difference between the two classes of trees. Most of the "Moon trees" were given away in 1975 and 1976 to many state forestry organizations, in order to be planted as part of the nation's bicentennial celebration. Since the trees were all of southern and western species, not all states received trees. A Loblolly Pine was planted at the White House, and trees were planted in Brazil, Switzerland, and presented to the Emperor of Japan, among others.

City and State	Location	Type of Tree	Planting Date
Auburn University, Alabama	G.W. Andrews Forestry Sciences Lab	Loblolly Pine	22 October 1976
Birmingham, Alabama	Birmingham Botanical Garden	Sycamore	April 1976
Montgomery, Alabama	State Capitol	Loblolly Pine	April 1976
Troy, Alabama	Pioneer Museum of Alabama	Loblolly Pine	5 August 1976
Tuscumbia, Alabama	Ivy Green	Loblolly Pine	19 October 1976
Flagstaff, Arizona	Flagstaff Jr. High School	Douglas Fir	30 April 1976
University of Arizona, Tucson Arizona	Kuiper Space Sciences Building	Sycamore	30 April 1976
Ft. Smith, Arkansas	Sebastian County Courthouse	Loblolly Pine	15 March 1976
Washington, Arkansas	Old Washington Historic State Park	Loblolly Pine	15 March 1976
Arcata, California	Humboldt State University	3 Redwoods
Berkeley, California	Tilden Nature Area	Redwood	26 July 1976
Monterey, California	Friendly Plaza	Redwood	July 1976
San Luis Obispo, California	Mission Plaza	Redwood	30 July 1976
Cape Canaveral, Florida	Kennedy Space Center	Sycamore	25 June 1976
Gainesville, Florida	University of Florida	Sycamore
Perry, Florida	Forest Capital Museum State Park	Loblolly Pine	26 April 1978
Tallahassee, Florida	Cascades Park	Sycamore
Tallahassee, Florida	Doyle Conner Building	Loblolly Pine
Boise, Idaho	Lowell Elementary School	Loblolly Pine	1977
Moscow, Idaho	University of Idaho	Sycamore
Cannelton, Indiana	Camp Koch Girl Scout Camp	Sycamore	1976
Indianapolis, Indiana	Indiana Statehouse	Sycamore	9 April 1976
Lincoln City, Indiana	Lincoln State Park	Sycamore	1 May 1976
Tell City, Indiana	Forest Service Office	2 Sweetgums	1976
Atchison, Kansas	International Forest of Friendship	Sycamore
Elmer, Louisiana	Palustris Experimental Forest	Loblolly Pine	April 1976
New Orleans, Louisiana	New Orleans River Walk	Loblolly Pine	June 1983
Bethesda, Maryland	Society of American Foresters	Loblolly Pine	30 September 1975
Greenbelt, Maryland	Goddard Space Flight Center	Sycamore	9 June 1977
Holliston, Massachusetts	Holliston Police Station	Sycamore	April 1976
Mississippi St. Univ., Mississippi	Dorman Hall	Sycamore	1975
Waynesboro, Mississippi	Forestry Commission Nursery	Sycamore
DeSoto, Missouri	Walthers Park	Sycamore
Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina	Cradle of Forestry	Sycamore
Ashville Botanical Garden	UNC Ashville	Sycamore
South Brunswick, New Jersey	South Brunswick High School	Sycamore
Jefferson County, Ohio	Friendship Park	Sycamore	29 July 1976
University of Oregon, Eugene Oregon	Erb Memorial Union	Douglas Fir
Roseburg, Oregon	U.S. Veteran's Hospital	Douglas Fir	3 May 1976
Oregon State University, Corvallis Oregon	Peavy Hall	Douglas Fir	1976
Salem, Oregon	State Capitol Building	Douglas Fir	30 April 1976
Salem, Oregon	Private Residence	2 Douglas Firs	1973
Ebensburg, Pennsylvania	Cambria County Courthouse	Sycamore	29 June 1976
Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania	Highland Hall	Sycamore	5 May 1976
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania	Lockheed Martin Space Systems Building	Sycamore	30 June 1976
Newtown/Langhorne, Pennsylvania	Core Creek Park	Sycamore	30 April 1976
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Washington Square	Sycamore*	6 May 1975
Knoxville, Tennessee	University of Tennessee	Loblolly Pine	April 1976
Sewanee, Tennessee	University of the South	Sycamore	April 1976
Tullahoma, Tennessee	Arnold Air Force Base	Loblolly Pine	April 1976
Olympia, Washington	State Capitol Building	Douglas Fir
Huntsville, Alabama	U.S. Space and Rocket Center	5 Sycamores, 2 Pines *	29 October 1976
Tuskegee, Alabama	VA Hospital (CAVHCS)	Loblolly Pine *	1976
Little Rock, Arkansas	Forestry Commission Headquarters	Loblolly Pine *	15 March 1976
Monticello, Arkansas	University of Arkansas at Monticello	Loblolly Pine *	1977?
New Orleans, Louisiana	NASA Michoud Assembly Facility	Loblolly Pine (2?) *	July 1976
North Pembroke, Massachusetts	Historical Society	Sycamore? *	April 1976
Albuquerque, New Mexico	Civic Plaza	Douglas Fir *
Illinois Valley, Oregon	Siskiyou Smoke Jumper Base	Douglas Fir *
Washington, D.C.	White House	Loblolly Pine *	19 January 1977
Plano, Texas	Plano Senior High School	Sycamore	4 November 2009

An asterisk (*) mark denotes a tree that is no longer alive.

External links

• The Moon Trees
• BBC News Article
• Science Daily: Race Against Time to Find Apollo 14's Lost Voyagers: 'Moon Trees'