Moon tree

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

Moon Tree in front of Sebastian County Courthouse, in Fort Smith, Arkansas

Plaque at the base of the Fort Smith, Arkansas, Moon Tree.

Moon Tree, Waycross, Georgia

Moon trees are trees grown from 500 seeds taken into orbit around the Moon by Stuart Roosa, the Command Module Pilot on the Apollo 14 mission in 1971. The idea was proposed to Roosa, who had been a smoke jumper, by Ed Cliff, then the Chief of the United States Forest Service. Seeds for the experiment were chosen from five species of tree: loblolly pine, sycamore, sweetgum, redwood, and Douglas fir.

History

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 after a few years, the Forest Service had about 420 seedlings. Some of these were planted alongside their Earth-bound counterparts, which were specifically set aside as controls. After more than 40 years, there was no discernible difference between the two classes of trees. Most of the "Moon trees" were given away in 1975 and 1976 to state forestry organizations, in order to be planted as part of the nation's bicentennial celebration. Since the trees were all of southern or 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 Emperor Hirohito, among others.

The locations of many of the trees that were planted from these seeds were largely unknown for decades. In 1996, a third-grade teacher, Joan Goble, and her students found a tree in their local area with a plaque identifying it as a moon tree. Goble sent an email to NASA, and reached employee Dave Williams. Williams was unaware of the trees' existence, as were most of his colleagues at NASA. Upon doing some research, Williams found some old newspaper clippings that described the initial actions taken by Roosa to bring these seeds to space and home to be planted.

Williams posted a page on NASA's official website asking for public help to find the trees. The page also contained a table listing the locations and species of known moon trees. Williams began to hear from people around the United States who had seen trees with plaques identifying them as moon trees. Williams began to manage a database listing details about such trees, including their location and species. In 2011, an article in Wired magazine described the effort, and provided Williams' email address, encouraging anyone to write who might have data on existing moon trees. As of 2022, efforts were continuing to identify and locate existing trees; the NASA page remains active.

In March 2021, the Royal Astronomical Society and the UK Space Agency asked for the help of the public to identify up to 15 Moon Trees that may be growing in the United Kingdom. As of April 2021, none of the trees that supposedly came to the UK have been identified.

Current efforts

The Moon Tree Foundation is an organization run by Roosa's daughter, Rosemary, which seeks to plant moon trees in regions around the world. The foundation sponsors and hosts ceremonies to plant new trees, with seeds produced by the original generation of trees that grew from the seeds carried by Roosa.

Locations

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		5 August 1976
Tuscumbia, Alabama	Ivy Green		19 October 1976
Flagstaff, Arizona	Flagstaff Jr. High School	Douglas Fir	30 April 1976
Tucson, Arizona	Kuiper Space Sciences Building, University of Arizona	Sycamore
Ft. Smith, Arkansas	Sebastian County Courthouse	Loblolly Pine	15 March 1976
Washington, Arkansas	Old Washington Historic State Park
Arcata, California	Humboldt State University	3 Redwoods
Berkeley, California	Tilden Nature Area	2 Redwoods	26 July 1976
Monterey, California	Friendly Plaza	Redwood	July 1976
San Luis Obispo, California	Mission Plaza		30 July 1976
Sacramento, California	State Capitol
Cape Canaveral, Florida	Kennedy Space Center	Sycamore*	25 June 1976
Gainesville, Florida	University of Florida	Sycamore
Keystone Heights, Florida	Keystone Heights Library	Sycamore	1984
Perry, Florida	Forest Capital Museum State Park	Loblolly Pine	26 April 1978
Tallahassee, Florida	Cascades Park	Sycamore
Tallahassee, Florida	Doyle Conner Building	Loblolly Pine
Athens, Georgia	Athens-Clarke County Planning Department		May 1976
Waycross, Georgia	Okefenokee Regional Educational Service Agency		ca. 1976
Boise, Idaho	Lowell Elementary School		1977
Moscow, Idaho	University of Idaho	Sycamore
Cannelton, Indiana	Camp Koch Girl Scout Camp		1976
Indianapolis, Indiana	Indiana Statehouse		9 April 1976
Lincoln City, Indiana	Lincoln State Park		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
Piedmont, South Carolina	209 Green Leaf Lane	Sycamore	August, 1976
New Orleans, Louisiana	New Orleans River Walk	Loblolly Pine	June 1983
Bethesda, Maryland	Society of American Foresters		30 September 1975
Greenbelt, Maryland	Goddard Space Flight Center	Sycamore	9 June 1977
Holliston, Massachusetts	Holliston Police Station		April 1976
Lansing, Michigan	State Capitol	Weeping Beech	1976
Mississippi State, Mississippi	The Junction	Sycamore	1975
Waynesboro, Mississippi	Forestry Commission Nursery
DeSoto, Missouri	Walthers Park
Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina	Cradle of Forestry in America
Asheville Botanical Garden, North Carolina	UNC Asheville
South Brunswick, New Jersey	South Brunswick High School
Jefferson County, Ohio	Friendship Park		29 July 1976
Eugene, Oregon	Erb Memorial Union, University of Oregon (Initially planted at Willamette Hall, moved in 1980)	Douglas Fir	1976
Roseburg, Oregon	U.S. Veteran's Hospital		3 May 1976
Corvallis, Oregon	Peavy Hall, Oregon State University		1976
Salem, Oregon	State Capitol		30 April 1976
Salem, Oregon	Private Residence	2 Douglas Firs	1973
Ebensburg, Pennsylvania	Cambria County Courthouse	Sycamore	29 June 1976
Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania	Highland Hall		5 May 1976
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania	Lockheed Martin Space Systems Building		30 June 1976
Newtown/Langhorne, Pennsylvania	Core Creek Park		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
Tullahoma, Tennessee	Arnold Air Force Base	Loblolly Pine
Olympia, Washington	State Capitol	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		15 March 1976
Monticello, Arkansas	University of Arkansas at Monticello		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
Washington, D.C.	White House	Loblolly Pine *	19 January 1977
Plano, Texas	Plano Senior High School	Sycamore *	4 November 2009
Brasília, Brazil	Ibama Central Building's garden	Sweetgum	14 November 1980
Santa Rosa, Brazil	Parque Municipal de Exposições	Redwood	18 August 1981
Tradate, Italy	Appiano Gentile Park	Loblolly Pine	10 October 2011
Bracey, Virginia	River Ridge Golf & Camping Club	Sycamore	31 January 1971
Doswell, Virginia	Kings Dominion	Sycamore	circa 1976
Lucerne, Switzerland	Swiss Transport Museum	Sycamore	15 August 1976 (not planted until later)
Silver City, New Mexico	Gough Park		14 August 1976
Houston, Texas	NASA Johnson Space Center	Loblolly Pine	February 2016

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

See also

• Moon rock
• Astrobotany

External links

• The Moon Trees, NASA
• The Moon Trees, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Moon Tree Foundation
• "Houston, We Have Moon Trees". Peeling Back the Bark blog, The Forest History Society.