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For the first time, scientists have grown plants in moon soil (土壤) collected by NASA’s Apollo astronauts.

The scientists had no idea if anything would grow in moon soil. They wanted to see if it could be used to grow plants. Robert Ferl of the University of Florida was surprised with the results. “Plants actually grow in moon soil,” he said.

Ferl and other researchers planted thale cress, a small flowering plant, in moon soil. The good news was that all of the seeds (种子) grew. The bad news was that after the first week, they grew slowly. Most of the plants ended up small and not fully developed.

Scientists found that the longer the soil was on the moon, the worse the plants seemed to grow. The soil collected by the Apollo 11 was the least helpful for growth. It was a couple billion years longer. One solution might be to use younger soil on the moon, like lava (火山岩浆), or put in some special nutrient (营养物) mixtures.

Only 382 kilograms of moon rocks and soil were brought back by the six Apollo groups that landed on the moon. Early last year, NASA finally gave out 12 grams of soil for the planting experiment (实验).

The Florida scientists hope to reuse their moon soil later this year, planting more thale cress before possibly moving on to other plants.

A scientist said, “Growing plants is a big step forward. The real next step is to go and do it on the surface of the moon.”