To the moon and back: Glacier Hills awarded sapling that traveled to outer space
Dec 09, 2024 10:28AM ● By Julie Slama
Glacier Hills students helped to plant the “moon tree” on their school grounds. (Aurielle Jennings/Glacier Hills)
In 1990, a Douglas fir seed was collected from the Siuslaw National Forest in Oregon’s coastal mountain range.
Little did it know that it would travel to the moon and back and be planted as a sapling at Glacier Hills Elementary in Sandy.
“It was part of the return of NASA’s moon trees program,” said Aurielle Jennings, Glacier Hills’ STEM teacher. “They brought the program back in 2022 and that’s when this tree’s seed was sent to space. NASA is doing this to encourage space exploration and to encourage teaching about space in the STEM activities.”
Glacier Hills was selected as a recipient of one of 2,000 seeds from five variety of trees based on the application Jennings filed in September 2023 after she learned about the opportunity from school Playworks coach, Kristen Goaslind.
“I created a proposal explaining why we should be selected, what we can do and how we will help the community learn about it, and band our community together to take care of this one tree,” she said. “It took multiple months to get all the information we needed for the moon tree and how we will take care of it and get everyone involved in planning for it.”
The tree arrived in a black plastic tube with its roots planted in soil.
“Our amazing custodian Stephanie Faddis took care of it, making sure she followed all the directions in a booklet that was sent with it. She prepared it for the kids to plant it and then, the kids worked with the district arborist to plant it,” Jennings said.
About a dozen students who had already turned in paperwork for the school’s upcoming science fair were asked to help plant the tree on Oct. 28. A plaque identifying the tree and its 270,000-mile flight from Earth on the Orion spacecraft was placed near the sapling.
But those students won’t be the only ones who will take care of the moon tree.
“I plan on encouraging all the kids to observe it. I plan to have students measure the tree’s height and width on a regular basis, so we can measure its growth. I want them to track how much water it gets and make some observations about it. We’re having a contest to name the tree so our kids are going to get to vote to decide on its name,” she said, adding she plans to keep a scrapbook about the tree.
She already shared with students the background about the Moon tree program, started when NASA astronaut Stuart Roosa, the command module pilot for the Apollo 14 mission and a former U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Services smoke jumper, carried tree seeds into lunar orbit in 1971.
Those Apollo 14 Moon Trees were germinated and grown into seedlings under the watch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Services and eventually disseminated around the world, with a large number distributed as part of the nation’s bicentennial.
Utah received two seedlings — one which was planted by the state capitol, which was uprooted during the 1999 tornado and a second planted in Lone Peak Conservation Center, which Jennings said is infected.
“I talked to them how it’s important for us to continue the moon tree legacy,” she said.
These “new generation” of Moon Tree seeds traveled into lunar orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft. The 1,000 seeds spent about four weeks in space before returning to Earth.
“They went to lots of different schools and educational facilities,” Jennings said since NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Services to fly them aboard Artemis I as part of a national STEM engagement and conservation education initiative. “I had to prove we were a school and we would be a good moon tree custodian. Our school is in the middle of our community, and we share with them what’s going on and encourage that bonding with our neighbors.”
By being stewards to the tree, students learn STEM is more than computers and technology, she said.
“A lot of kids are like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to do STEM’ because they only picture certain things with STEM,” Jennings said. “They don’t picture working with trees. I have kids who want to work with space, but they don’t want to be an astronaut, so this is a good way for me to show the kids that you don’t have to be an astronaut to work with space. You can work with trees and still work with space. Our moon tree allows our students to make observations and learn from it, which may motivate them to do more in STEM.”