The Forgotten Trees That Orbited the Moon

Using Zocdoc is FREE - visit my sponsor https://zocdoc.com/ParkVibes to find and instantly book an appointment with a top-rated, in-network doctor today. Somewhere in America, hundreds of trees are growing that have been to the Moon. And we've lost track of many of them. In 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa—a former smoke jumper—carried 2,000 tree seeds around the Moon. After orbiting another world 34 times and traveling nearly a million miles through space, those seeds came home and sprouted into perfectly normal trees. For America's bicentennial, NASA distributed around 450 Moon Tree seedlings to communities across the country—planting them at state capitols, schools, parks, and NASA centers. Then NASA forgot to write down where they went. For two decades, hundreds of trees that had orbited the Moon grew in plain sight across America, completely invisible. Until a curious third-grader asked her teacher a simple question that launched the largest citizen science treasure hunt in NASA's history. We look at where these trees have been found—from Arkansas courthouse squares to Kennedy Space Center grounds—to tell the story of the forest we sent to the Moon, how we lost it when it came back, and why finding these trees again matters. Along the way: Stuart Roosa's daughter continuing her father's mission by planting second-generation Moon Trees, NASA's new Artemis program learning from Apollo's mistakes, and the ongoing search for hundreds of missing trees still hiding in our communities. 🔔 Subscribe for more hidden stories about the wonders inside America's parks and public lands. We publish a new documentary about every two weeks. Or join us at https://www.parkvibes.com/ and get updates when we publish a new video and ways you can help protect places like this. We'll respect your inbox and only send you updates when it's something we think you'll truly love. Business inquiries: parkvibes@apollomgmt.co