10-04-2025
Moon Tree at New Mexico museum soon to be unveiled to public
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KRQE) – Walking through the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces, you might walk by a particular pine tree without a second glance. But, it has a story that's truly out of this world. 'They were seeds that were on the Artemis one mission,' said Paul Steward, Instructional Coordinator at New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.
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That's right, it is a Moon Tree. The pine tree growing in the museum's garden started as one of the hundreds of seeds that went on NASA's Artemis I mission in 2022, where they orbited the moon. It was a nod to the first moon tree project aboard Apollo 14. The New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum was just one of the places across the country to receive one of these moon trees last year. 'I was very happy when we found out that we were going to get one of the moon trees,' said Steward. 'We got it in the ground right away. And we planted it in there, gave it some fertilizer.'
He said in the last year, they haven't noticed any impact the seed's time in space may have had on the tree. 'It's been doing ok. It has a little bit of brown on some of its pine needles, so we've added some more soil to it, some more nutrients,' said Steward. 'I think it's getting greener and doing a little bit better.'
And now, it's ready to be seen by museum-goers. The Moon Tree will be unveiled to the public on April 11 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the under-construction outdoor classroom (formerly known as the Discovery Garden) at NMFRHM. The museum hopes the tree that launched into space will help launch new interest about science, plants, and space exploration.
'That it sparks that excitement for them, the curiosity to learn more about what's going on with growing plants in space,' said Steward.
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