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“Lunar lumber” here means a piece of sycamore from a Moon Tree at Kennedy Space Center—not a commercial lumber category, and not wood that grew on the Moon. The tree was grown from a seed that orbited the Moon on Apollo 14. After Hurricane Irma destroyed it in 2017, some of its wood was reportedly salvaged and made into commemorative works. The story is ultimately about how a tree’s history can give its wood a meaning no species label or price can capture.
What is a Moon Tree?
Moon Trees are Earth trees grown from seeds that traveled around the Moon aboard Apollo 14 in February 1971. They did not grow on the lunar surface. NASA describes the trees planted after the mission as living reminders of Apollo-era lunar exploration. Its history of the project says command module pilot Stuart Roosa carried 400 to 500 seeds of five species, including sycamore, loblolly pine, sweetgum, redwood and Douglas fir. WOOD magazine describes the number as about 500; NASA’s Moon Trees overview also gives a much higher possibility—“2,000 or more”—so the seed count is not consistent across NASA’s accounts.
Seeds were germinated after the mission, and seedlings were distributed and planted in multiple locations. NASA says no systematic tracking was made of all the original Moon Trees, so the existence or present condition of every planting cannot be assumed.
How the Kennedy Space Center sycamore became lumber
WOOD magazine reports that a sycamore Moon Tree planted at Kennedy Space Center in 1976 was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in September 2017. According to the magazine, Scott G. Phillips obtained a 30-inch section with permission from NASA and the U.S. Forest Service. In April 2019, he took the log to a Virginia shop, where woodworking professionals helped cut it into slabs.
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NASA’s published history confirms the wider Apollo 14 seed project, but it does not document the custody of this particular log. The recovery and processing details are reported by WOOD magazine, rather than independently established in NASA’s account. That distinction matters: the provenance of this piece is part of its significance, and should be presented with the source that reports it.
What was made from the saved wood?
WOOD magazine says pieces of the sycamore were used in a memorial honoring Stuart Roosa, an intarsia artwork, and two commissioned Martin guitars intended for permanent displays. Those are the outcomes the feature reports; it does not independently establish where the objects are currently displayed.
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This is not an account of a lumber supply being offered for sale. The feature describes a finite, historically associated log turned into commemorative objects. It does not establish that slabs or other pieces remain available to buy. Ordinary sycamore lumber may share the species, but it cannot reproduce this tree’s provenance.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the story is personal
Jim Heavey, the feature’s author, connects the Moon Tree wood to a piece he made from a Russian olive tree that belonged to his late father. He turned that wood into a Christmas ornament. In his account, the meaning came from the tree’s place in his family’s history, not simply from its species.
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That is the useful lesson for anyone working with salvaged or inherited wood: material can carry a record of a place, a person, or an event. Craft gives that material a new form, but the story behind it is what makes the object more than a piece of timber. In the Kennedy Space Center sycamore’s case, the connection reaches from a tree grown from an Apollo 14 seed to objects made to commemorate the mission and its pilot.
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