Seventh-grade science students at Christian County Middle School planted a young Sweet Gum Tree on Wednesday that sprouted from a seed that orbited the moon during the 1971 Apollo 14 mission.
In 1971, 1,000 tree seeds orbited the moon on NASA’s Orion Capsule for the Artemis Program and the Artemis Moon Trees aim to study the impacts of space on plant biology.
Students took turns shoveling dirt around the tree to ensure it was well planted. Middle School Science Teacher Amanda Huff says the tree planting is about giving her students a chance to interact with NASA history and to make space feel closer by bringing an artifact to the community.
Huff says she saw that NASA has an artifacts module and she was originally looking at old rocket engines, but then she saw the seeds that had been in space and knew she had to apply for them.
The Sweet Gum Tree has been dubbed Arty and once mature it can reach heights of around 60 to 100 feet tall. Huff says the moon tree is about leaving a legacy for her students and encouraging them to explore science.
The tree is in the middle school’s front lawn along Glass Avenue near the parking lot.
