1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, it's entirely possible that a 3 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:15,200 Speaker 1: UFO has been somewhere near your home for decades. Yes, 4 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:18,159 Speaker 1: we mean a UFO from outer space, just not the 5 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,920 Speaker 1: flying saucer kind. The UFO we're talking about might be 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: an unidentified fur object. That's because a fur is one 7 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: of several varieties of tree seeds that literally took a 8 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: trip around the Moon in the nineteen seventies and made 9 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: its way back to be planted on Earth. So let's 10 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: talk about just how that happened. This is the story 11 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: of the moon trees in Stuart Rusa, a former U 12 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 1: S Forest Service smoke jumper who would parachute into forest 13 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: fires to help put them out, joined NASA astronauts Alan 14 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 1: Shepherd and Edgar Mitchell on the Apollo fourteen mission to 15 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: the Moon. Russa took with him five different varieties of 16 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: tree seeds on both ward, including nearly five hundred seeds 17 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: of douglas fir, lob lolly pine, sycamore, sweet gum, and redwood. 18 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: He held the seeds in metal containers inside a canvas 19 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: pouch as part of a joint NASA US Forestry Service 20 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: Project RUSA, and the seeds orbited the Moon in the 21 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 1: Kittie Hawk command module as Shepherd and Mitchell walked on 22 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: the Moon's surface below. While the seeds never left the 23 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 1: capsule or touched the Moon, they became known as Moon 24 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: trees when they returned to Earth and were germinated and 25 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: planted around the United States in honor of the country's 26 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: by centennial celebration in nineteen six. It was partially a 27 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: publicity stunt, but the point of the seed project was 28 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,320 Speaker 1: to determine whether there might be a difference in characteristics 29 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: between these space seeds and a batch of control seeds 30 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: left on Earth almost immediately upon return. The experiment was 31 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: in jeopardy because the seed bag was exposed to a 32 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: vacuum and burst during the decontamination process. The seeds have 33 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: a old to be fairly hardy, but a total vacuum 34 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: isn't something that earthly trees ever planned for. Nobody knew 35 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:09,960 Speaker 1: if the seeds would still be viable, and besides, the 36 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 1: seeds from all five species had scattered and intermingled, but 37 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: forced Service geneticist Stan Krugman, who was in charge of 38 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: the project separated them by hand and sent them to 39 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 1: forced service labs to be germinated, and almost all of 40 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: them did. After a failed attempt at growing several trees 41 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:30,920 Speaker 1: in Houston, the remaining seeds were sent to the Southern 42 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: Forest Service Station in Gulfport, Mississippi, and to the Western 43 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: Station in Placerville, California. Hundreds grew into seedlings. Some of 44 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: the seedlings were planted along with the control seeds left 45 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: on earth. Now, nearly fifty years after the Apollo fourteen mission, 46 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: there's no discernible difference between the known plantings and their offspring. Unfortunately, 47 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: when the seedlings were given away, no one kept a 48 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: list of adopters or locations, and some were sent to 49 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 1: state forestry organizations. Others were sent to the White House, 50 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: Independent Square in Philadelphia and even the Emperor of Japan. 51 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: Lots of people requested them. Senators wanted saplings to plant 52 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 1: when they dedicated buildings. The then mayor of New Orleans, 53 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: Maurice Edwin Landrew, went by the nickname Moon, and he 54 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: managed to get a few. Two. A girl Scout troop 55 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: in Indiana received one. Many were planted with a plaque 56 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 1: describing the journey that they had undertaken, but even the 57 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,079 Speaker 1: known list of moon trees that NASA keeps is a 58 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,119 Speaker 1: best guess. Nonetheless, if you'd like to see whether any 59 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: of these trees still stand somewhere near you, just google 60 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:43,040 Speaker 1: Moon trees known list. The NASA Space Science Data Coordinated 61 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: Archive keeps up a page with locations of all the 62 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: known trees, with living ones listed from California to Florida 63 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: and north as far as Massachusetts and Washington State. Today's 64 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article Awesome Moon trees still 65 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: stand as Testament to Apollo fourt teen on houstuffworks dot com, 66 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 1: written by Sherry's Cunningham. Brain Stuff is production of by 67 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio and partnership with houstuff works dot com, and 68 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, 69 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 70 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:17,720 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.