Moon tree


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.[1] Seeds for the experiment were chosen from five species of tree: loblolly pine, sycamore, sweetgum, redwood, and Douglas fir.[2][3][4][5][6]
History[edit]
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.[2]
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.[3]
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.[4] As of 2022, efforts were continuing to identify and locate existing trees;[3] the NASA page remains active.[7]
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.[8]
Current efforts[edit]
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.[9]
Locations[edit]
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[10] | 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*[11] | 25 June 1976 | |
Gainesville, Florida |
University of Florida | Sycamore | ||
Keystone Heights, Florida |
Keystone Heights Library | Sycamore[12] | 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[13] | 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[14] | |
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 | [15] |
Lucerne, Switzerland |
Swiss Transport Museum | Sycamore | 15 August 1976 (not planted until later) | |
Silver City, New Mexico |
Gough Park | 14 August 1976[16] | ||
Houston, Texas |
NASA Johnson Space Center | Loblolly Pine | February 2016[dubious ] |
An asterisk (*) denotes a tree that is no longer alive.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Williams, Gerald; Severance, Carol; Lewis, James G. (2009-06-18). "Chiefs of the U.S. Forest Service". Forest History Society. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ a b Williams, David R. (28 July 2009). "The "Moon Trees"". Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ a b c We Almost Forgot About the Moon Trees: A collection of tree seeds that went round and round the moon was scattered far and wide back home, by Marina Koren. The seeds orbited the Moon, but were not landed on it. The Atlantic, January 31, 2022.
- ^ a b The Mystery of the Missing Moon Trees: 15 years after NASA astronomer David Williams started searching for them, hundreds of trees grown from space-faring seeds are still missing. The “moon trees,” whose seeds circled the moon 34 times in Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa‘s pocket, were welcomed back to Earth with great fanfare in 1971. February 10, 2011, wired.com.
- ^ "Race Against Time to Find Apollo 14's Lost Voyagers: 'Moon Trees'". Science Daily. February 10, 2011.
- ^ Black, Richard (19 July 2005). "Trees... from the Moon". BBC News.
- ^ The "Moon Trees", official NASA website, accessed Feb 3, 2022.
- ^ Massey, Robert (2021-03-30). "Can you help us find the Moon Trees?". Royal Astronomical Society. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
- ^ Moon tree Planting ceremony, official website of Moon Tree Foundation, accessed February 3, 2022.
- ^ "'Moon trees' mark Tilden Regional Park". The Mercury News. 2015-11-27. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
- ^
"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-03-19. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Keystone Heights Moon Tree". Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ Georgia Forestry Commission, Twitter, July 9, 2019
- ^ Correio Braziliense, November 15, 1980
- ^ "The Moon Tree That Orbited the Moon 34 Times". 4 May 2016.
- ^ 'Moon Tree' dedication here Sunday, Silver City Daily Press, August 14, 1976
External links[edit]
- 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.