Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey,
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, it's entirely possible that a
Speaker 1: UFO has been somewhere near your home for decades. Yes,
Speaker 1: we mean a UFO from outer space, just not the
Speaker 1: flying saucer kind. The UFO we're talking about might be
Speaker 1: an unidentified fur object. That's because a fur is one
Speaker 1: of several varieties of tree seeds that literally took a
Speaker 1: trip around the Moon in the nineteen seventies and made
Speaker 1: its way back to be planted on Earth. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about just how that happened. This is the story
Speaker 1: of the moon trees in Stuart Rusa, a former U
Speaker 1: S Forest Service smoke jumper who would parachute into forest
Speaker 1: fires to help put them out, joined NASA astronauts Alan
Speaker 1: Shepherd and Edgar Mitchell on the Apollo fourteen mission to
Speaker 1: the Moon. Russa took with him five different varieties of
Speaker 1: tree seeds on both ward, including nearly five hundred seeds
Speaker 1: of douglas fir, lob lolly pine, sycamore, sweet gum, and redwood.
Speaker 1: He held the seeds in metal containers inside a canvas
Speaker 1: pouch as part of a joint NASA US Forestry Service
Speaker 1: Project RUSA, and the seeds orbited the Moon in the
Speaker 1: Kittie Hawk command module as Shepherd and Mitchell walked on
Speaker 1: the Moon's surface below. While the seeds never left the
Speaker 1: capsule or touched the Moon, they became known as Moon
Speaker 1: trees when they returned to Earth and were germinated and
Speaker 1: planted around the United States in honor of the country's
Speaker 1: by centennial celebration in nineteen six. It was partially a
Speaker 1: publicity stunt, but the point of the seed project was
Speaker 1: to determine whether there might be a difference in characteristics
Speaker 1: between these space seeds and a batch of control seeds
Speaker 1: left on Earth almost immediately upon return. The experiment was
Speaker 1: in jeopardy because the seed bag was exposed to a
Speaker 1: vacuum and burst during the decontamination process. The seeds have
Speaker 1: a old to be fairly hardy, but a total vacuum
Speaker 1: isn't something that earthly trees ever planned for. Nobody knew
Speaker 1: if the seeds would still be viable, and besides, the
Speaker 1: seeds from all five species had scattered and intermingled, but
Speaker 1: forced Service geneticist Stan Krugman, who was in charge of
Speaker 1: the project separated them by hand and sent them to
Speaker 1: forced service labs to be germinated, and almost all of
Speaker 1: them did. After a failed attempt at growing several trees
Speaker 1: in Houston, the remaining seeds were sent to the Southern
Speaker 1: Forest Service Station in Gulfport, Mississippi, and to the Western
Speaker 1: Station in Placerville, California. Hundreds grew into seedlings. Some of
Speaker 1: the seedlings were planted along with the control seeds left
Speaker 1: on earth. Now, nearly fifty years after the Apollo fourteen mission,
Speaker 1: there's no discernible difference between the known plantings and their offspring. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: when the seedlings were given away, no one kept a
Speaker 1: list of adopters or locations, and some were sent to
Speaker 1: state forestry organizations. Others were sent to the White House,
Speaker 1: Independent Square in Philadelphia and even the Emperor of Japan.
Speaker 1: Lots of people requested them. Senators wanted saplings to plant
Speaker 1: when they dedicated buildings. The then mayor of New Orleans,
Speaker 1: Maurice Edwin Landrew, went by the nickname Moon, and he
Speaker 1: managed to get a few. Two. A girl Scout troop
Speaker 1: in Indiana received one. Many were planted with a plaque
Speaker 1: describing the journey that they had undertaken, but even the
Speaker 1: known list of moon trees that NASA keeps is a
Speaker 1: best guess. Nonetheless, if you'd like to see whether any
Speaker 1: of these trees still stand somewhere near you, just google
Speaker 1: Moon trees known list. The NASA Space Science Data Coordinated
Speaker 1: Archive keeps up a page with locations of all the
Speaker 1: known trees, with living ones listed from California to Florida
Speaker 1: and north as far as Massachusetts and Washington State. Today's
Speaker 1: episode is based on the article Awesome Moon trees still
Speaker 1: stand as Testament to Apollo fourt teen on houstuffworks dot com,
Speaker 1: written by Sherry's Cunningham. Brain Stuff is production of by
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and partnership with houstuff works dot com, and
Speaker 1: it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio,
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