For the first time, scientists have grown plants in the moon soil collected by NASA's Apollo astronauts. The scientists had no idea if anything would grow in the moon dirt. They wanted to see if it could be used to grow food by the next generation of moon explorers. The results surprised them. Plants actually can grow in lunar （月球的） soil.
The researchers planted thale cress （芥蓝）, a small flowering plant, in moon soil returned from the Apollo missions. The good news was that all of the seeds grew. The bad news was that after the first week the lunar soil stressed the plants so much that they grew slowly. Most of the moon plants ended up stunted — meaning small or not fully developed.
The longer the soil was exposed to radiation and solar wind on the moon, the worse the plants seemed to do. The soil collected by the Apollo 11 mission was the least helpful for growth. It was exposed a couple billion years longer to the elements.
Scientists said, "This is a big step forward to know that we can grow plants. The real next step is to go and do it on the surface of the moon."
Moon dirt is full of glass particles from micrometeorite （微小陨石） impacts. One solution might be to use younger geologic spots on the moon, like lava flows, for digging up soil. The environment also could be changed by adding special nutrient （营养物） mixtures or artificial lighting.
Only 382 kilograms of moon rocks and soil were brought back by the six Apollo crews that landed on the moon. Most of them are still locked away, forcing researchers to experiment with soil made of volcanic ash on Earth.
Early last year NASA finally gave out 12 grams of soil to the University of Florida researchers for the planting experiment. NASA said the timing for such an experiment was finally right with the space agency looking to put astronauts back on the moon in a few years.
