Editing Moon tree (section)

== History ==
After the flight, the seeds were sent to the southern Forest Service station in [[Gulfport, Mississippi|Gulfport]], [[Mississippi]], and to the western station in [[Placerville, California]], with the intent to [[germination|germinate]] them.<ref name=":5" /> Nearly all the seeds germinated successfully, and after a few years, the Forest Service had about 420 seedlings. Some of these were planted alongside their Earth-bound counterparts, which were specifically set aside as controls. After more than 40 years, there was no discernible difference between the two classes of trees. Most of the Moon trees were given away in 1975 and 1976 to state forestry organizations, in order to be planted as part of the nation's [[United States Bicentennial|bicentennial celebration]]. Since the trees were all of southern or western species, not all states received trees. A [[Loblolly Pine]] was planted at the [[White House]], and trees were planted in [[Brazil]], [[Switzerland]], and presented to [[Emperor of Japan|Emperor]] [[Hirohito]], among others.<ref name="Williams">{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=David R. |date=July 28, 2009 |title=The "Moon Trees" |url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html |access-date=August 7, 2009 |work=[[Goddard Space Flight Center]] |publisher=[[NASA]]}}</ref>[[Image:MoonTreePlaque.jpg|thumb|upright|Plaque at the base of the Fort Smith Moon Tree.]]The locations of many of the trees that were planted from these seeds were largely unknown for decades. In 1996, a third-grade teacher, Joan Goble, and her students found a tree in their local area with a plaque identifying it as a Moon tree. Goble sent an email to NASA, and reached employee Dave Williams. Williams was unaware of the trees' existence, as were most of his colleagues at NASA. Upon doing some research, Williams found some old newspaper clippings that described the initial actions taken by Roosa to bring these seeds to space and home to be planted.<ref name="Atlantic Jan 2022"> [https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/01/nasa-moon-trees-apollo/621395/ We Almost Forgot About the Moon Trees: A collection of tree seeds that went round and round the moon was scattered far and wide back home], by Marina Koren. The seeds orbited the Moon, but were not landed on it. ''The Atlantic'', January 31, 2022. </ref>
Williams posted a page on NASA's official website asking for public help to find the trees. The page also contained a table listing the locations and species of known Moon trees. Williams began to hear from people around the United States who had seen trees with plaques identifying them as Moon trees. Williams began to manage a database listing details about such trees, including their location and species. In 2011, an article in ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'' magazine described the effort, and provided Williams' email address, encouraging anyone to write who might have data on existing Moon trees.<ref name="Wired Feb 2011"> [https://www.wired.com/2011/02/moon-trees/ The Mystery of the Missing Moon Trees:] 15 years after NASA astronomer David Williams started searching for them, hundreds of trees grown from space-faring seeds are still missing. The moon trees, whose seeds circled the moon 34 times in Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa‘s pocket, were welcomed back to Earth with great fanfare in 1971. February 10, 2011, wired.com.</ref> As of 2022, efforts were continuing to identify and locate existing trees;<ref name="Atlantic Jan 2022" /> the NASA page remains active.<ref name="NASA page"> [https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html The "Moon Trees"], official NASA website, accessed February 3, 2022. </ref>

In March 2021, the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] and the [[UK Space Agency]] asked for the help of the public to identify up to 15 Moon Trees that may be growing in the [[United Kingdom]]. As of April 2021, none of the trees that supposedly came to the UK have been identified.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/can-you-help-us-find-moon-trees |title=Can you help us find the Moon Trees? |last=Massey |first=Robert |publisher=Royal Astronomical Society |date=March 30, 2021 |accessdate=April 23, 2021 }}</ref>

===Current efforts===
The Moon Tree Foundation is an organization run by Roosa's daughter, Rosemary, which seeks to plant Moon trees in regions around the world. The foundation sponsors and hosts ceremonies to plant new trees, with seeds produced by the original generation of trees that grew from the seeds carried by Roosa in 1971.<ref name="foundation"> [https://www.moontreefoundation.com/moon-tree-plantings Moon tree Planting ceremony], official website of Moon Tree Foundation, accessed February 3, 2022. </ref>

[[File:Moontree goddard.jpg|upright|thumb|Moon tree at the [[Goddard Space Flight Center]]]]