Bruce Conkle's Rocket Tree This is a monument to the 'Moon Tree,' a Douglas-fir grown from a seed that orbited the moon and is now planted on the capitol grounds only a few hundred meters to the west. In 1971 astronaut Stuart Roosa, a former Forest Service worker, packed numerous seeds inside his personal kit aboard the Apollo 14 Lunar Command Module. When he returned, many of those seeds were germinated. Salem's Moon Tree was planted on Arbor Day in 1976 as part of the Bicentennial celebration. Bruce Conkle's Rocket Tree Bruce Conkle's Rocket Tree


Rocket Tree is a Public Art Commission for the Oregon Department of Transportation Headquarters in Salem, Oregon.

The accompanying plaque reads: This is a monument to the 'Moon Tree,' a Douglas-fir grown from a seed that orbited the moon and is now planted on the capitol grounds only a few hundred meters to the west. In 1971 astronaut Stuart Roosa, a former Forest Service worker, packed numerous seeds inside his personal kit aboard the Apollo 14 Lunar Command Module. When he returned, many of those seeds were germinated. Salem's Moon Tree was planted on Arbor Day in 1976 as part of the Bicentennial celebration.

 

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