California school plants tree grown with seeds flown around moon

LAKE FOREST, California: Children wearing spacesuits and star-studded T-shirts planted a tree in California that was grown with seeds flown around the moon.

The so-called "Moon Tree" was wheeled out in a wagon, and several students with shovels helped dig its new home at Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School in Lake Forest.

The school, with roughly 500 students in grades K-12, was selected to receive a seedling for a giant sequoia grown with seeds flown on NASA's Artemis I Mission in 2022.

It is the second time NASA has flown seeds into space and brought them back for planting. An astronaut for the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 carried seeds that were later grown into the first generation of Moon Trees, which were planted in states from Alabama to Washington.

Paul Propster, chief story architect for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that while many of those seedlings were distributed to national monuments, this latest batch has been given to schools and museums to promote science and conservation education and help bring space down to Earth.

He said it is unknown whether space travel affects how plants grow, and scientists continue to study it.

In 2022, NASA and the Forest Service flew nearly 2,000 seeds from five species of trees aboard the unmanned Orion spacecraft, which went into lunar orbit and spent about four weeks traveling in space.

Once back on Earth, the seeds were grown into young sycamores, sweetgums, Douglas firs, loblolly pines, and giant sequoias that could be shared with the public through application.

NASA officials said nearly 150 seedlings were distributed earlier in the year, and another batch is expected this fall.

Santiago, a science and technology-focused magnet school, planted its tree in a space-themed outdoor garden decorated with colorful stones painted by students.

Colorful ropes were laid in circles on the ground to show students how big the tree could grow 50 years from now - and 500.