Tree Dedicated Honoring NASA's Artemis Missions

This morning Representative Harold "Hal" Rogers, Representative Matt Cartwright, Representative Frank Lucas, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Canadian Minister of Congressional, Public and Intergovernmental Affairs, Carrie Goodge O’Brien, NASA Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen, and other distinguished guests gathered on the U.S. Capitol Grounds to dedicate a tree in honor of NASA's Artemis missions.

"Today, we are planting a sweetgum tree in honor of NASA's Artemis missions, the first part of a long-term plan to further explore the moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars," said Jim Kaufmann, Director of Capitol Grounds and Arboretum. "This sweetgum was grown from the array of different seeds that flew nearly 270,000 miles from Earth and circled the moon aboard the Orion spacecraft."

The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) cares for the historic and picturesque grounds surrounding the U.S. Capitol Building. The grounds were designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in 1874. Now more than 150 years later, the AOC continues to follow his plan for creating an urban oasis in the nation's capital using nature to highlight the beauty of the U.S. Capitol Building.