Scientists Grow Plants in Moon Soil During The Apollo 11 Mission

In 1971, David Bowie famously wondered, “Is there life on Mars?” More than fifty years later, while sustainable life on Mars may still be a distant goal, we’ve moved a step closer to achieving it on the Moon soil. Researchers at the University of Florida have managed to grow cress plants using Moon soil brought back by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Adrian during the Apollo 11 mission.

The cress seed experiment observed how cress grew in Moon soil, using Earth soil as a control. During the first week, all the seeds germinated into seedlings, and the ones in Moon soil grew in a pattern similar to those in Earth soil.

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In the second week, the Earth-grown cress outpaced the seedlings growing in Moon soil, though the growth in Moon soil still amazed scientists. Biologist Anna-Lisa Paul explained: “For about the first week of their growth, there was virtually no difference between the plants in Earth soil and those in Moon soil. This shows that lunar regolith isn’t naturally toxic to plants or something that would stop them from growing.”

University of Florida geologist Stephen Elardo stated, “This marks the first step in what we hope will be a long, decades-long journey of understanding how this works — and eventually applying it directly on the lunar surface when we return to the Moon.” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, “This research is vital for NASA’s long-term plans for human exploration, as we’ll need to rely on local resources on the Moon and Mars to grow food for astronauts who will live and work in deep space.”

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