Apollo 14 launched in the late afternoon of January 31, 1971 on what was to be our third trip to the lunar surface. Five days later Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell walked on the Moon while Stuart Roosa, a former U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper, orbited above in the command module. Click Here For Placemark

Packed in small containers in Roosa's personal kit were hundreds of tree seeds, part of a joint NASA/USFS project. Upon return to Earth, the seeds were germinated by the Forest Service. Known as the "Moon Trees", the resulting seedlings were planted throughout the United States (often as part of the nation's bicentennial in 1976) and the world. They stand as a tribute to astronaut Roosa and the Apollo program.

Birmingham Botanical Gardens Moon Tree Sycamore (platanus occidentalis) planted Arbor Week, 1976, at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Alabama
Tree is located at 33 deg 29.439 min N, 86 deg 46.579 min W


Edited by Majoska (02/04/06 03:43 PM)