Where are the Moon Trees now?

February 3, 2022 8:10 AM

15 years after NASA astronomer David Williams started searching for them, hundreds of trees grown from space-faring seeds are still missing. Here.

The "moon trees," whose seeds circled the moon 34 times in Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa's pocket, were welcomed back to Earth with great fanfare in 1971. One was planted in Washington Square in Philadelphia as part of the 1975 bicentennial celebrations. Another took root at the White House. Several found homes at state capitals and space-related sites around the country. Then-president Gerald Ford called the trees "living symbol[s] of our spectacular human and scientific achievements."

And then, mysteriously, everyone seemed to forget about them. Just like the last mention on the Blue 20 years ago! Previously. And previously.

I added one to the list which I last saw about 5 years ago in Philadelphia! Do you know of any not on the list here?
NOTE: The site was last updated July 2021.

posted by IndelibleUnderpants (19 comments total)

They disappeared because they needed plan how to become our Overlords?
posted by Oh_Bobloblaw at 8:55 AM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

I used to go see the one in Philly from time to time. It was a pretty tree.
posted by lazaruslong at 9:05 AM on February 3, 2022

They disappeared because they needed plan how to become our Overlords?


These new Space Trees better have a good plan, when the terrestrial old growth tree faction is already recruiting human collaborators
posted by otherchaz at 9:07 AM on February 3, 2022

Interesting selection of seeds, a redwood seed is about the size of a tomato seed. Sycamore seeds are much larger, you could carry dozens more redwood seeds per sycamore seed. Yet the majority here are sycamores. As far as age and grandeur, the redwood is superior.

Nothing really exotic here either. There are many jacarandas and frangipanis around my home that are other worldly at certain times of year. I'm just thinking of relatively mundane ones in my neighbourhood, how about some little shop of horrors type tree. I expect moon trees to eat people.
posted by adept256 at 9:15 AM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Does no one remember the Quatermass films?

No one remembers the trees because they don't want you to!
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:15 AM on February 3, 2022 [2 favorites]

Also, 34 times? More like 33 1/3 times, if you know what I mean!
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:16 AM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Someone needs to put together an SCP-like archive of fiction documenting what happened to some of those hundreds of missing trees.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 9:36 AM on February 3, 2022 [3 favorites]

I was wondering why so many were dead, given the species are all long lived. Quite a few seem to have fallen victim to disinterest, such as "In 2000 it was accidentally cut down during a remodeling project" but a lot seem to have just died. Possibly the stress of being in often urban environments and ones not their native growing zone.
posted by tavella at 9:56 AM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Like Poochie, they have returned to their home planet.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:57 AM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

The cosmically irradiated Moon seeds have grown tall, spread decades of deadly offspring on the four winds, and are quietly waiting to begin The Day of the Triffids.
posted by cenoxo at 10:20 AM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

I came here basically to say what RonButNotStupid said, this is an excellent SCP writing prompt.
posted by mhoye at 10:30 AM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Michigan's moon tree is thriving and plotting with thier chipmunk minions to design, build and deploy spacecraft to the planet Sciuridae prime.
posted by clavdivs at 10:42 AM on February 3, 2022

Specimen: Seed 14-398-25X
Variety: Sycamore
Location: Bridgewater, MA
Status: Dimensionally Displaced
Threat Category: Minimal

Seed 14-398-25X was given to the Town of Bridgewater in 1979 and planted on the town common. Initially it was maintained and cared for by the Bridgewater Garden Club. An internal 1983 survey conducted by the Club listed the sapling as healthy with a [REDACTED] diameter crown and only low levels of [REDACTED] in a core sample which was taken under the supervision of NASA botanists. Subsequent annual surveys by the garden club chart a steady progression in growth through 1997.

A visit by NASA botanists in January of 1998 could not identify the tree, but did note a suspicious circular patch of grass at the tree's location where snow does not collect and dogs frequently urinate. Thermal imaging studies of the area were inconclusive, but a full gravimetric survey produced evidence that an object with a density consistent with the tree exists 1.4mm into a pocket dimension. Follow-up surveys in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2010 have measured an apparent drift of 0.9mm per year and as of 2020 the tree now has a displacement of 21.2mm.

Recommendations: None. Dimensional displacement is still below the maximum safe limit of [REDACTED].

posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:03 AM on February 3, 2022 [11 favorites]

I remember getting tomato seeds that had orbited the earth on the space shuttle for five years. It was late elementary school, just a few years after the challenger explosion, and NASA was trying to find a way back to students.

We were supposed to do an experiment, in one cup each of us grew the space seeds, and in another we grew ordinary seeds that our teacher had purchased. We were supposed to observe and note any differences. The space seeds germinated more quickly and grew tall and leggy pretty compared to their poky, earth-bound counterparts.

My question was why? Did zero gravity make them grow faster? Or was it that they were much older seeds? Were they even the same varieties of tomatoes? My teacher had no answers and seemed annoyed at me for asking a million questions. I had thought that we were learning science, but and reflecting back as an adult my teacher just wanted us to do an activity and fill out a worksheet.

I still love the space program, but a lot of the public science always had a stronger PR flavor than I would have liked.
posted by Alison at 12:07 PM on February 3, 2022 [4 favorites]

I was wondering why so many were dead, given the species are all long lived. Quite a few seem to have fallen victim to disinterest, such as "In 2000 it was accidentally cut down during a remodeling project" but a lot seem to have just died. Possibly the stress of being in often urban environments and ones not their native growing zone.

Space Shuttle pine trees near my house. At one point in the 90s somebody vandalized them (not fatally, or at least not all of them), because, if I remember correctly, apparently Baby Jesus doesn't approve of taking seeds into space.
posted by JanetLand at 1:48 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Washington State reportedly got douglas fir seeds (of course). Their tree is still going strong near the state capitol.
posted by neuracnu at 1:28 AM on February 4, 2022

Huh. I must have seen one growing up, it’s in a botanical center I visited quite often - local paper had an article from last February stating the moon Sycamore was now 50 years old.

Which is weird, because it was planted in ‘76, so it should be two years YOUNGER than me, not two years OLDER? Can moon trees time travel…?
posted by caution live frogs at 5:11 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Maybe you are 4 years younger than you thought.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:35 AM on February 4, 2022

Unfortunately, the seed bags burst open during the decontamination procedures after their return to Earth, and the seeds were scattered about the chamber and exposed to vacuum, and it was thought they might not be viable.

They put returning astronaut decontamination chambers through a vacuum cycle? I guess that's not a terrible idea for some unlikely but not entirely impossible bad things that could come back on a space suit. But, I am now curious what they do with the vented gas. Add fuel and send it into a very hot furnace? Pump it into tanks and bury the tanks?

I can never quite decide how to feel about these kinds of projects. It's harmless and fun. It's a great excuse to make people think about space. But, also, the idea that a mm-scale object full of fluids and solids would particularly care about being weightless or slightly increased exposure to radiation with a somewhat different spectrum seems pretty hard to take seriously. The line between, "this thing has been to space - isn't that cool!" and "we're actually doing citizen science" is challenging to navigate. But, it's fun to know about. Thanks!
posted by eotvos at 8:43 AM on February 4, 2022