Moon Trees

One of the them went to a Girl Scout camp in Cannelton, Indiana, where 3rd grade teacher Joan Goble found it in 1996. (She knew it was a Moon Tree because a sign said so. Most Moon trees were planted with ceremony; there's usually a sign or plaque nearby that identifies them.) "My students love it," she says. "It looks like an ordinary tree, but they feel it's special anyway because of its trip to the Moon." Jack Roosa has since become a pen pal of Goble's class, encouraging the students to explore and learn as his father did.

When Goble contacted Dave Williams to ask for more information about Moon trees, "I was clueless," Williams admits. Like many people who were young in the 1970's, Williams had never heard of such trees, but he soon became an enthusiast. "I found one Moon tree right here at Goddard near my office," he laughs. "I had no idea it was there."

Often that's how they're encountered - by accident. Williams now maintains a web site listing all known Moon trees. If you stumble across one then contact him. He'll investigate the find and add it to the collection if it's authentic.

more Students in Goble's 3rd grade class made this sign for their Moon tree in Indiana.

Moon trees are long-lived, adds Krugman. The redwoods could last thousands of years, and the pines have a life expectancy of centuries. Indeed, they've already outlived Stuart Roosa and Al Shepard - two of the humans who took them to the Moon.

Says Jack, "I think my father always knew that these trees would serve as a long-lasting, living reminder of mankind's greatest achievement - the manned missions to the Moon." Of course, if humans don't return soon, Moon trees could become the only living things on our planet that have been to the Moon. That's probably not what Stuart had in mind.

Jack, however, is optimistic: "These trees will be here 100 years from now," he says. "By then I believe we'll be planting Mars trees right beside them."