Bronx Community College receives an out-of-this-world gift from NASA

The faculty at BCC was over the moon as they planted their very own moon tree from NASA — they named her Luna.

Photo ET Rodriguez

Faculty at the Bronx Community College (BCC) were out of this world with excitement on Tuesday, May 7, as they gathered to plant their very own moon tree, straight from NASA themselves.

BCC faculty members stood on the campus lawn, each waiting their turn to dump a shovel-full of dirt into the moon tree’s new forever home.

“Live long and prosper,” said Noelle King, adjunct assistant professor in art and music as she took her turn.

Last year, King was on NASA’s website when she saw a call to community organizations to apply for a moon tree.

“I thought it was a really long shot but I did it anyway and then lo and behold, they sent me an email saying, ‘provisionally awarded’ and I almost fainted,” said King who also wanted to acknowledge that it was a group effort resulting in an exciting, new endeavor for the Bronx.

The American sycamore seedling delivered to BCC in late April was part of the first batch to be distributed by NASA to nearly 50 institutions across the country. Once delivered to the campus, Anthony Colon, BCC’s facility superintendent, cared for the baby moon tree as per the instructions.

“Water it every day, nurture it, talk to it, make it feel loved,” said Colon laughing. “It grew about two to four inches while it was in my office.”

The seedling, named Luna, was about 2 feet tall when she was placed into campus grounds on Tuesday. She is expected to be more than 100 feet tall and 14 feet wide.

The moon trees, called such because they orbited the moon, are a legacy project of an earlier mission. In 1971, Stuart A. Roosa, Command Module Pilot of Apollo 14 and former Forest Service smoke jumper, took hundreds of seeds with him into space. Upon his return, the seeds of loblolly pine, sweet gum, redwood, Douglas fir and sycamore, were distributed far and wide from California…