Apollo 14's Moon Trees: Astronauts Took Seeds to Space, What Happens Now?

In 1971, approximately 500 seeds of various species were launched into orbit; it circled the moon 34 times before returning to Earth, where they were then planted in various locations across the globe.

NASA sent 400 to 500 seeds into space to see if they would be altered. In 1971, the seeds went along with the Apollo 14 mission and circled the moon 34 times. They planted them in the US, Europe, and South America. The spouted plant is referred to as 'Moon Trees' by the agency, and there are 83 overall. Unfortunately, about a third of the trees have died since being planted in the 1970s.

The seeds were documented to be of redwoods, Douglas firs, sycamores, sweetgums, and loblolly pines variety.

The mission was part of Apollo 14, and when astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell were walking on the moon, in the command module above, Stuart Roosa was circling with the seeds remaining in his personal kit.

Apollo 14

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Apollo 14, the third mission to land on the moon and the first mission to land in the lunar highlands.

The seeds were categorized and sorted during the mission, while control seeds were retained on Earth for comparison. The space seeds were stored in Rossa's kit, but after the crew returned to Earth, the canister burst open during the decontamination process, leaving several unusable for the experiment.

Throughout the United States and the nation, the remaining seedlings were cultivated. To astronaut Roosa and the Apollo program, they stand as a tribute.

Moon Trees

Dr. Michele Tobias from the University of California Davis has developed a comprehensive map of the world's Moon Trees.

The seeds were set in the US Forest Service's custody by NASA, which watched over them until they sprouted, but some were not planted until years after the mission.

In a telegram to US Bicentennial Moon Tree planting ceremonies, then-President Gerald Ford said: 'This tree carried by Astronauts Stuart Roosa, Alan Shepard, and Edgar Mitchell on their mission to the moon, is a living symbol of our spectacular human and scientific achievements.

Over the years, though, the public, along with NASA, forgot about the trees, former astronaut David Williams made it his personal mission in 1996 to find and list all of them. He began with a list of 22 Moon Trees, and 80 had been tracked, even though 21 of those had died.

Three more were added to the list recently, raising the number to 83, but a third of them are now gone.

William added, though, that the future of many trees actually had little to do with their journey to space.

"There was no detectable difference at all compared to seeds that never blasted off, which is what anyone would have expected," Williams told Atlas Obscura.

At the White House, a Loblolly Pine was planted, and trees were planted in Brazil, Switzerland, and, among others, given to the Emperor of Japan.

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