UK space agency hunts for `Moon Trees` from seeds brought back by mission 50 years ago – WION

When NASA completed its third crewed mission to the Moon 50 years ago, the spacecraft brought some unusual things as it landed on the Pacific Ocean on February 9, 1971.

There were 500 seeds, including sycamore, sweetgum, redwood that travelled from the Moon.

Stuart Roosa, one of the three astronauts of the mission, packed these seeds for the mission in an experiment to see how they react to the space environment.

Also read | Believe it or not! These trees consume poisonous metals

But since Roosa never landed on the lunar surface, these seeds were unable to be planted in the Moon.

As the seeds return to Earth, they were germinated by the Forest Service, reports CNN.Named as the "Moon Trees," these were planted across the US and the world, as per NASA.

NASA has since then tracked 60 of these trees, mainly in the US, but some were planted in Brazil, Switzerland and Japan too.

Also read | Miami is set to reduce number of palm trees as climate concerns rise

In a recent BBC Radio 4 programme, it was claimed that nearly 15 of these trees were planted in Britain.

However, there have been no records that substantiate how these seeds may have arrived in the UK and are nowhere to be found.

Now, the UK space agency has begun its hunt to find these seeds or trees that could have grown from these seeds.

"I'll be interested in discovering if any of the Moon seeds came to the UK and what has become of them," space exploration expert Libby Jackson from the UK Space Agency was reported as saying by Science Alert.

See the original post:

UK space agency hunts for `Moon Trees` from seeds brought back by mission 50 years ago - WION