“You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen its shadow from the sky.”
Oregon Heritage Tree Dedication
Crammed into a small three inch by six inch cylinder that was part of Stuart Roosa’s Personal Property Kit (PPK) were seeds. The seeds were from five different species of trees that began their incredible journey when they were plucked off their parent trees in different parts of the country. Their journey continued to Cape Canaveral, Florida, and on January 31, 1971, they blasted off aboard Apollo 14 towards the Moon. After they returned to Earth, they went to Houston to be decontaminated. When the cylinder was opened, the bags containing the seeds exploded, spewing seeds all over the room. Now would they germinate? They were carefully picked up and sorted. Then they were sent on to Forest Service stations in California and Mississippi. Most of the seeds did germinate and were nurtured and grown until they were little seedlings. Finally, the seedlings were ready to fulfill their purpose: they would be planted to mark the celebration of the Bicentennial of the United States. Even though Stuart Roosa has died, these living trees continue to honor the space program, and the Moon Trees that were planted to honor the bicentennial will most likely live to see the tercentennial.
Stuart Roosa took tree seeds with him to the Moon. The seeds were returned to Earth and have been planted in many places. Pictured is the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) Moon Tree, located on the Oregon State Capitol Grounds in Salem, Oregon.
