APOLLO 14 RIDES AGAIN !

[Apollo-phill]

On Christmas Eve, a brand new American rocket - the Vulcan - will lift-off at 06:49 GMT  from Cape Canaveral, Florida  carrying the first historic Astrobotic  Peregrine  unmanned commercial lunar lander .

It will attempt to land on the south western edge of the Moon Mare Imbrium at the Gruithuisen Domes on New Year Eve where it will  operate for upto eight  days during the first week of 2024.

The Peregrine spacecraft carries a number of tree seeds grown from those that were carried  inside  the NASA Apollo 14  Command Module by astronaut Stuart Roosa during the 1971 manned Apollo 14bmoon mission .  The Apollo 14 Command Module carrying Roosa and the tree seeds orbited the Moon several times but did not land on the Moon .

Back in 2015 long standing UK  spaceflight enthusiast - Phill Parker of Newcastle under Lyme in  Staffordshire -  arranged  for and sent his  set of  Apollo 14 "Moon Tree Seeds"  from his space flown collection - to the USA to be carried to the lunar surface by the Peregrine spacecraft to honour the late astronaut Apollo 14 Stuart Roosa .

Fortuitously the Apollo 14 tree seeds were Sycamore tree  seeds and with the recent tragic events surrounding the world famous "Sycamore Gap Tree" , Phill Parker  will dedicate  his Peregrine Moon  landing Apollo 14 Sycamore Tree seeds to act as a long lasting memorial to the much loved Sycamore Gap Tree as well as astronaut Roosa.

Phill is certain that the late  Stuart Roosa would be in total agreement as before he became a NASA astronaut, Roosa was a US Forestry worker and " smoke jumper".

Phill Parker extends an invitation to all  "Sycamore Gap Tree" lovers to join with him in following the launch and Moon landing of the Peregrine spacecraft over the Christmas period and on into the New Year.

No matter whether the spacecraft lands  on the Moon safely or not or if it fails to orbit Moon ,  the Sycamore seeds , in their protected metal canister, will be on the Moon or in space for thousands of years providing a tribute to the  Sycamore Gap tree .





IMAGES ATTACHED
Image Acknowledgments

Phill Parker
NASA
United Launch Alliance (ULA)
Astrobotics Inc










ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 Apollo 14 Moon Tree Seeds
 
The third US manned lunar landing mission , Apollo 14 ,  launched in the late afternoon of January 31, 1971 on  the third human mission to the lunar surface. Five days later astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell walked on the Moon while Stuart Roosa, a former U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper, orbited above in the Command Module. Packed in small containers in Roosa's personal kit were hundreds of tree seeds, part of a joint NASA/USFS project. Upon return to Earth, the seeds were germinated by the US Forest Service (USFS) . More commonly known as the "Moon Trees ", the resulting seedlings were planted throughout the United States (often as part of the nation's bicentennial in 1976) and the world. They stand as a tribute to astronaut Roosa and the Apollo Moon landing program.

The project began after Roosa was chosen for the Apollo 14 mission. Ed Cliff, Chief of the Forest Service, knew of Stuart Roosa from his days as a smoke jumper and contacted him about bringing seeds into space. Stan Krugman of the Forest Service was put in charge of the project and selected the seeds for the experiment. Seeds were chosen from five different types of trees: Loblolly Pine, Sycamore, Sweetgum, Redwood, and Douglas Fir. The seeds were classified and sorted, and control seeds were kept on Earth for later comparison. Roosa carried about 400 - 500 seeds in his personal kit which stayed with him as he orbited the Moon in the command module "Kitty Hawk" in February, 1971.

Stuart Roosa was born on 16 August 1933, in Durango, Colorado. He worked for the Forest Service in the early 1950's as a smoke jumper fighting fires and later joined the Air Force and became a test pilot. He was one of 19 people selected for the astronaut class of 1966 and was part of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 9. Following Apollo 14, Roosa was backup command module pilot for Apollo's 16 and 17. He then worked on the Space Shuttle program until his retirement as a Colonel in the Air Force in 1976, the time when many of his trees were being planted.

Sadly, Stuart Roosa passed away in December, 1994. The Moon Trees continue to flourish, a living monument to our first visits to the Moon and a fitting memorial to Stuart Roosa.

END BACKGROUND MATERIAL

[Apollo-phill]

Since I wrote this , we have leaned lunalading will be in "..early New Year..."  (my guess - in January).

[Phil Stooke]

"
It will attempt to land on the south western edge of the Moon Mare Imbrium"

That's the north-western edge of Mare Imbrium.  It is a bit to the southwest of the Gruithuisen Domes, but northwest of Mare Imbrium.