There are a little over 1,100 trees at the state Capitol, but only one of those trees have been to the moon.
A 45-year-old Redwood tree. How it ended up on the North Lawn is a little-known story that tour guide Eric Thompson loves to tell.
"It went to the moon! Not as a tree but a seed," Thomson said.
The "Moon Tree" was part of a light-hearted NASA experiment on Apollo 14.
"It was an experiment in order to see the effects of weightlessness of seeds," Thomson said.
The man behind this experiment was Astronaut Stuart Roosa, who was a member of the "Astronaut Lonely Hearts Club". Meaning he had to stay on the on the Apollo space orbiter while his crewmates Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell walked on the moon. The seeds that Roosa brought along became a sort of lunar souvenir.
"The seeds were brought back, germinated then planted and given as gifts," Thompson said.
The seeds were planted in a number of states in 1975 and 1976 but for a long time, the location of most of the trees was kept a secret. Including the Redwood Moon Tree at the Capitol.
The location of the Capitol Moon Tree remained a secret for nearly 30 years. A secret that was almost forgotten.
"It was not marked, so after 9/11 we were going to cut down the tree to put in the security kiosk," Thomas said.
The Redwood Moon Tree was planted among other redwoods to measure the effects that space had on the tree's seed. "As far as we can tell it made absolutely no difference," Thomas said.
You can't really call Roosa's experiment a failure. Most of the seeds he took to space did grow. Roosa died in 1994 but today offspring of the moon trees are being planted in other areas.
You can view the moon tree at the state capitol. It's right next to the security entrance.