Moon tree facts for kids

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

United States

City	State	Location	Species	Date planted	Ref.
Starkville	Mississippi	Dorman Hall, Mississippi State University	Sycamore	1975
Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	Washington Square Park	Sycamore*	May 6, 1975
Bethesda	Maryland	Society of American Foresters	Loblolly Pine	September 30, 1975
Fort Smith	Arkansas	Sebastian County Courthouse	Loblolly Pine	March 15, 1976
Washington	Arkansas	Old Washington Historic State Park	Loblolly Pine	March 15, 1976
Asheville	North Carolina	Botanical Gardens at Asheville	Sycamore	March 19, 1976
Birmingham	Alabama	Birmingham Botanical Gardens, near Lane Park	Sycamore	April 1976
Montgomery	Alabama	Alabama State Capitol Building	Loblolly Pine	April 1976
Elmer	Louisiana	Palustris Experiment Station, Kisatchie National Forest	Loblolly Pine	April 1976
Knoxville	Tennessee	Forestry Experiment Station, University of Tennessee	Loblolly Pine	April 1976
Sewanee	Tennessee	Woods Laboratories, University of the South	Sycamore	April 1976
Elizabethton	Tennessee	Fort Watauga, Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area	April 1976
Tullahoma	Tennessee	Arnold Air Force Base	Loblolly Pine*	April 1976
Olympia	Washington	Washington State Capitol Building	Douglas Fir	April 1976
Indianapolis	Indiana	Indiana Statehouse	Sycamore	April 9, 1976
Lansing	Michigan	Michigan State Capitol Building	Sycamore*	April 22, 1976
Flagstaff	Arizona	Frances Short Pond, formerly Flagstaff Junior High School	Douglas Fir*	April 30, 1976
Tucson	Arizona	Kuiper Space Sciences Building, University of Arizona	Sycamore	April 30, 1976
Salem	Oregon	Oregon State Capitol Building	Douglas Fir	April 30, 1976
Middletown	Pennsylvania	Core Creek Park	Sycamore	April 30, 1976
Arcata	California	California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt	3 Redwoods	May 1976
Athens	Georgia	Athens-Clarke County Planning Department	Loblolly Pine	May 1976
Lincoln City	Indiana	Lincoln State Park	Sycamore	May 1, 1976
Roseburg	Oregon	Roseburg Veteran Affairs Medical Center	Douglas Fir	May 3, 1976
Hollidaysburg	Pennsylvania	Highland Hall	Sycamore	May 5, 1976
Boise	Idaho	Idaho State Capitol Building	May 7, 1976
Cape Canaveral	Florida	Kennedy Space Center	Sycamore*	June 25, 1976
Ebensburg	Pennsylvania	Cambria County Courthouse	Sycamore	June 29, 1976
King of Prussia	Pennsylvania	Lockheed Martin Space Systems Building	Sycamore	June 30, 1976
Atchison	Kansas	International Forest of Friendship	Sycamore	July 24, 1976
Berkeley	California	Northwest area of Tilden Nature Area	2 Redwoods	July 26, 1976
Monterey	California	Friendly Plaza, near Colton Hall	Redwood	July 27, 1976
Steubenville	Ohio	Friendship Park	Sycamore	July 29, 1976
San Luis Obispo	California	Mission Plaza	Redwood	July 30, 1976
Troy	Alabama	Pioneer Museum of Alabama	Loblolly Pine	August 5, 1976
Tuscumbia	Alabama	Ivy Green, historic monument and birthplace of Helen Keller	Loblolly Pine	October 19, 1976
Auburn	Alabama	G.W. Andrews Forestry Sciences Lab, Auburn University	Loblolly Pine*	October 22, 1976
Sacramento	California	California State Capitol Building	Redwood	1976
Tallahassee	Florida	Doyle Conner Building, Plant Industry Headquarters	Loblolly Pine	1976
Waycross	Georgia	Okefenokee Regional Educational Service Agency	Loblolly Pine	1976
Cannelton	Indiana	Camp Koch Girl Scout Camp	Sycamore	1976
Tell City	Indiana	Hoosier National Forest Service Office	2 Sweetgums	1976
Monmouth	New Jersey	Monmouth County Courthouse	Sycamore*	1976
Corvallis	Oregon	Peavy Hall, Oregon State University	Douglas Fir	1976
Eugene	Oregon	Erb Memorial Union, University of Oregon	Douglas Fir	1976 (moved and replanted, 1987)
Gainesville	Florida	University of Florida	Sycamore	1977
Boise	Idaho	Lowell Elementary School	Loblolly Pine	1977
Greenbelt	Maryland	Goddard Space Flight Center	Sycamore	June 9, 1977
Perry	Florida	Forest Capital Museum State Park	Loblolly Pine	April 29, 1978
Lockeford	California	Lockeford Plant Materials Center	Redwood	1979
New Orleans	Louisiana	New Orleans River Walk	Loblolly Pine*	June 1983
Holliston	Massachusetts	Holliston Police Station	Sycamore	1982
Keystone Heights	Florida	Keystone Heights Library	Sycamore	1984
Tallahassee	Florida	Cascades Park	Sycamore	Unknown
Moscow	Idaho	Administration Building, University of Idaho	Sycamore*	Unknown
Waynesboro	Mississippi	Forestry Commission Nursery	Sycamore	Unknown
DeSoto	Missouri	Walthers Park	Sycamore	Unknown
Brevard	North Carolina	Biltmore Forest School, Pisgah National Forest	Sycamore	Unknown
Salem	Oregon	Private Residence	2 Douglas Firs	1973
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	Alabama	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.	District of Columbia	White House	Loblolly Pine *	19 January 1977
Plano	Texas	Plano Senior High School	Sycamore *	4 November 2009
Houston	Texas	NASA Johnson Space Center	Loblolly Pine	February 2016
Silver City	New Mexico	Gough Park	Sycamore	14 August 1976
Bracey	Virginia	River Ridge Golf & Camping Club	Sycamore	31 January 1971
Doswell	Virginia	Kings Dominion	Sycamore	circa 1976

Other countries

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

See also

In Spanish: Árbol lunar para niños