Moon Trees Growing in Hollidaysburg

Apollo 14 launched in 1971 with hundreds of seeds from pine, sycamore, sweetgum, redwood, and Douglas fir trees in the personal belongings of Stuart Roosa, a former Forest Fire Smoke Jumper turned Astronaut. Upon return from space and their orbit of the moon (Stuart Roosa stayed behind on the capsule while Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell landed on the moon) the seeds were germinated and sent all over the country as part of the United State's bicentennial celebration. We are lucky enough to have one of these trees here in Hollidaysburg on the grounds of Highland Hall, a Sycamore Moon Tree that was planted on May 5^th, 1976.

Today, we at the Blair County Penn State Extension Master Gardener program are proudly working to continue to spread information and progeny from this incredible piece of American history! In conjunction with Holy Trinity Middle School and others, we are developing a program using a retired and now refurbished NASA Boilerplate (a training capsule used by NASA to test functions of the rockets without using a complete capsule) as a greenhouse to grow these moon tree seeds for a new generation!

Using a closed system of watering, lighting and feeding, the moon tree seeds will be grown entirely inside the boilerplate using a closed system to recycle water, provide light and heat required to grow the seeds into saplings in an educational setting to inspire the next generation of astronauts and gardeners alike!

Article by Pat Wills