Flown Flora: NASA's Moon Trees and Public Memory

Drew Adan & Cecilia Duykers, University of Alabama, Huntsville

Abstract:
Since the late 1940s, Americans have sent countless biological specimens to space to test how they respond to the orbital environment. Of all the species included in these experiments two have the longevity to inform future generations of their experiences, human beings and trees. Our research seeks to examine how those two species have interacted to tell the story of flown flora through carefully cultivated sites of public memory.

In 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa carried hundreds of tree seeds in his personal kit as he orbited the moon. This was part of a joint project between NASA and the United States Forest Service to determine the viability of seeds exposed to the harsh conditions of space travel. Upon returning to Earth, these seeds were germinated and distributed across the world (mostly during 1976 in celebration of America’s bicentennial.) Over twenty years later in 1998, Alabama Astronaut Joe F. Edwards carried apple seeds aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour (OV105) and one of the seeds grew into the “Cosmic Apple Tree” that now resides on the campus of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. In late 2022, nearly 2,000 seeds orbited the moon on NASA’s Artemis I mission. These seedlings will be distributed to educational institutions and community centers all over the country in the coming years.

This project chronicles the Moon Tree program and other flown seed initiatives to create a narrative history as well as a digital map to showcase our findings. To date, an interactive map of confirmed flown tree seed locations does not exist. Using archival collections housed at various academic and governmental institutions, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Department of Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives intends to create and publish an interactive map using Omeka Neatline maps that will share research findings and offer a collaborative portal to track moon tree dispersal.

Bios:
Cecilia Duykers is a junior majoring in English and minoring in technical and creative writing at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Cecilia works as an ambassador for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and as a Student Specialist I at UAH’s Salmon Library. Recently, Cecilia studied abroad in London as part of the UAH Honors College class HON-399 and published a research poster titled “Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Time Capsule for Disability in 1990s Britain.” In 2023 her essay “Therapies and Family Support for OCD Recovery” won the English Department Outstanding Undergraduate Paper award at the 1XX-2XX level.

Drew Adan is an archivist at the M. Louis Salmon Library of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Before coming to UAH, Drew worked for ten years in the Yale University library system at the Lillian Goldman Law Library and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. He holds an MLIS from Simmons School of Library and Information Science and a Master’s degree in History from UAH. In 2024 he published a book chapter entitled “Space City, USA: The Theme Park of the South that Failed to Launch” in NASA and the American South and has presented on various archival and history topics at national and international conferences.