Moon Trees

Astronauts on Apollo missions were allowed to carry a small Personal Preference Kit, a small pouch in which they could carry along prized possessions of their choice. In his kit, outdoorsman Stuart Roosa decided to carry some seeds, which he obtained from the US Forest Service. After the return of the Apollo 14 spacecraft, the seeds (sycamore seeds) were germinated by researchers at various locations with differing environments.

Each tree had an earthbound sibling from the same pair of parents. Researchers wanted to know if the harsh radiation in space would have any effect on the trees grown from the seeds that had been carried to the moon. Comparisons of the pairs found no evidence of any changes.

At the end of the experiment, in 1976 during bi-centennial celebrations in the US, requests for the five-year-old saplings came in from public agencies and schools across the nation as well as abroad. The original trees, their offspring and propagations were sent to locations all over the world, where they now stand as proud reminders of human achievement.

Link: Trees… from the Moon from the BBC News

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 5:17 AM on August 18, 2005

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