Fly Me to the Moon........

Sometimes nursery work can be monotonous. Don't get me wrong, I love my job

but as we grind through each day of the long growing season things can get a little repetitive so it's aways fun when we get a new project to work on and this season along came a good one!

NASA and the USDA Forest Service are working together to distribute seedlings from the Artemis Moon Tree seeds. These seeds were flown to the moon and back on the Artemis I space mission in 2022 where the seeds traveled 270,000 miles from Earth on the Orion spacecraft.

Sweet Gum Seedlings

The Artemis Moon Trees project harks back to 1971 when Stuart Roosa, the command module pilot for the Apollo 14 mission, orbited the moon with tree seeds tucked into his personal kit. Roosa, a former Forest Service smokejumper, or a firefighter who parachutes to the site of a forest fire, carried these seeds at the request of the Forest Service Chief. Forest Service employees then grew these seeds into seedlings and distributed them across the country. Many so-called “Moon Trees” survive today.

This next generation of Moon Trees builds upon this legacy but traveled much deeper into space than their predecessors.

Seeds packaged and ready for space!

The seeds taken into space on this mission are

from five different species of trees collected throughout the United Strates: Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) and Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum).

These seeds were first x-rayed to ensure their vigor and then packaged in special pouches to help them stay safe and healthy during the journey. After their long trip through space these seeds were given to a few nurseries to be grown into seedlings and lucky for us, the Bessey Nursery was one of them!

Loblolly Pine Seedlings

After we worked our magic at the nursery germinating the seed and growing the trees NASA and the USDA Forest Service are distributing the seedlings to create new ways for communities to connect with space exploration.

Schools, libraries, museums and others engaging with students or the public are encouraged to apply for a moon tree seedling through NASA's Artifact Module. Eligible institutions include formal and informal K-12-serving organizations, universities, community organizations, science centers and government agencies.