Moon Sycamore

Apollo XIV launched from Kennedy Space Center on January 31, 1971, as the third lunar landing mission. The mission lasted for 9 hours, 1 minute and 57 seconds and carried Captain Alan Shepard, USN, Major Stuart Roosa, USAF, and Cdr. Edgar Mitchell, USN. After reaching the Moon, Shepard and Mitchell went to the surface and walked 1.7 miles while Roosa kept the craft in orbit. Roosa, a former smoke jumper for the U.S. Forest Service, wanted to fly something in honor of the agency that protected and preserved the nation's forests, so the service suggested seeds collected from across the country, including seeds from an American sycamore. His effort joined forestry and astronautics in an unprecedented way, and the Moon Sycamore still stands today as a living tribute to that effort.

Mountain View, Missouri · United States