It would be very logical if the so-called "lunar trees" grown on the surface of the Earth's satellite. But no - located from us at 384 thousand kilometers of the moon almost empty. "Lunny" are called trees grown from seeds, which in 1971 visited the lunar orbit. It was interesting to scientists, whether these plants would be different from those that they rose from the seeds who were not leaving our planet. After returning to the ground, the seedlings were presented with schools, parks and government agencies of different US states. Of these, large trees have grown, but the exact location of each of them is still unknown. And all because no one thought about their fate to follow. But recently, the Aerospace Agency NASA published the most complete map indicating the location of each well-known lunar tree. Let's see where they grow and find out who at all came the idea to send seeds of trees into space.
Unusual experiment in space
The idea of an unusual experiment came to Edward Cliff (Edward Cliff), Director of the US Forest Service. This happened shortly before the start of the Apollo-14 space mission, in which people were set to the surface of the Moon for the third time. He learned that his longtime friend, Astronaut Stewart Rus (Stuart Roosa), would take part in this mission. He asked him to take the seeds with him to cosmos, to later find out whether the trees grown from those grown from ordinary seeds would be distinguished. Stewart Rus agreed and during the mission kept with a capacity with 500 seeds of five trees.
While Apollo-14 participants Alan Shepard (Alan Shepard) and Edgar Mitchell (Edgar Mitchell) worked on the surface of the moon, the stewart of Rus was located on an incense orbit. That is, the seeds taken to them were not directly on the surface of the moon, but they were very close to her. After a successful landing of the crew, the seeds successfully sprouted. Saplings were presented to various agencies in different parts of the United States. The lunar trees were planted next to ordinary. After dozens of years later, it turned out that they did not differ from ordinary plants. Most seedlings were planted in 1976, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the United States. Since then, few people remembered about them and no one followed the exact location of each of them.
See also: Where are the oldest trees of Russia and how old are they?
Where are the lunar lyrev grow?
For the first time, where the lunar trees were planted, in 1996 scientist David Williams (David Walliams) thought. Once he wrote as a school employee for the American state-scout girls. According to her, a tree grows near their educational institution, next to which there is a sign with the inscription "Lunar Tree." Until then, David Williams had no idea what it was. Nasa's guided certificates, the scientist learned the story of these trees and found out that almost no one knows about the location of many of them. He created a project for their search and by 2016, together with his like-minded people, found 75 such trees. Most of them grow on the territory of 25 states, but there are those who found themselves outside the United States.
Played trees have become alive monuments of the Apollo Space Program and Astronaut Stewart Rus. The first tree was planted in May 1975 in the city of Philadelphia, with the participation of the Stuart of Rus. Several trees grow in Brazil, Switzerland and Japan. One tree grew on the territory of the White House, but over time she died. Due to diseases and hurricanes, more than ten historically important plants died. The location map of the surviving trees was compiled by Dr. Michelle Tobias. In his work, she used data collected by David Williams, as well as information from other sources. The map was published on the official site of NASA.
The above mentioned lunar trees have their own descendants. At the end of the XX century, scientists took the seeds and cuttings from the existing trees to grow their second generation. One of these plants grows on the territory of Arlington National Cemetery. It was planted in February 2005, in the 34th anniversary of the Apollo-14 mission. Thus, scientists honored the memory of Stuart Rus and other astronauts left.
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I have already mentioned the lunar trees in the article about the strangest experiments in space. Go through this link and you will learn why scientists were sent to Cosmos turtles and who left the hammer and feather on the moon.