The "Moon Trees"

The Moon Trees began as a joint NASA-U.S. Forest Service experiment on Apollo 14. Astronaut Stuart Roosa, a former Forest Service smoke jumper, carried roughly 2,000 seeds in the command module as he orbited the Moon in February 1971. The seeds came from five species: loblolly pine, sycamore, sweetgum, redwood, and Douglas fir; Earth-kept seeds served as controls. On return, the seed bags burst during decontamination, scattering seeds that were exposed to vacuum. Although this raised doubts about their viability, Forest Service staff managed to germinate many of them. Seedlings were grown at stations in Mississippi and California, and some were compared with control trees; decades later, no discernible differences were reported.

Most seedlings were distributed in 1975 and 1976, often for the U.S. bicentennial, and planted at sites across the country and abroad. Examples include the White House, Valley Forge, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and locations in Brazil, Switzerland, and Japan. The trees became living tributes to Roosa and the Apollo program, but no comprehensive planting or tracking records were kept, so many locations remain uncertain. Roosa later served as a backup command module pilot for Apollo 16 and 17 and worked on the Space Shuttle program before retiring in 1976. He died in 1994; the surviving trees continue to commemorate both his career and humanity’s first lunar visits.