The UK’s space agency is hunting for ‘moon trees’ grown from seeds that went on the Apollo 14 lunar mission

CNN — Fifty years ago, NASA’sApollo 14 completed the third crewed mission to the moon. There could be as many as 15 Moon Trees in the UK – trees grown from seeds flown around the Moon by NASA astronaut Stuart Roosa in 1971. Two potential recipients, Kew Gardens in London and the arboretum at Jodrell Bank, the UK’s main space observatory, have no records of the seeds that supposedly came to the UK, Miller said. “But we still want to know if any Apollo 14 seeds did come to the UK, and – if so – just what happened to them?” The tree seeds on the Apollo 14 mission weren’t part of a systematic experiment. Understanding the effects of space on ungerminated seeds will be vital for future space missions, including when we look to sustain human life beyond Earth,” said Libby Jackson, Human Exploration Manager at the UK Space Agency, in a statement.