Back in 1971, the Apollo 14 mission traveled to the Moon with two golf balls and 500 seeds. While the golf balls were sent toward the horizon by Alan Shepherd, the seeds were brought back to Earth by Stuart Roosa, who’d been a paratrooper firefighter before he became an astronaut. These seeds included redwood, loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) trees. While these seeds were only in space for nine days, there is still interest in seeing how they may or may not have grown any different from other trees. 

While many of the seeds were planted and grew into well-documented trees, fifteen British trees are living more anonymous lives. The Royal Astronomical Society and the UK Space Agency are now on a quest to find those trees. We’re going to link to more information on our website, DailySpace.org, and if you just happen to have an old family story about a Moon tree being planted, there are some good folks who’d like to know more, for science.

More Information

RAS press release