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Dutch Museum's 'Moon Rock' an Out-of-This-World Fake

Gift from NASA is just petrified wood, tests reveal

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 28, 2009 3:10 PM CDT

(Newser) – A “moon rock” exhibited at the Dutch national museum is actually petrified wood, the BBC reports. The three Apollo 11 astronauts gave the object to former PM Willem Drees on a tour following their 1969 moon mission; NASA shared similar artifacts with more than 100 other countries. The purported moon rock was once insured for $500,000.

When Drees died, he left the "rock" to the Rijksmuseum, whose staff recently ordered the tests that revealed the truth. The wood will be kept as a novelty. "It's a good story," said the staffer who led the investigation. "What is also strange is that in 1969, when Willem Drees was given this 'rock,' it was 11 years after he had stepped down as prime minister."

In this photo released by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009, a rock supposedly brought back from the moon, and a note from the then-U.S. ambassador is seen.
In this photo released by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009, a rock supposedly brought back from the moon, and a note from the then-U.S. ambassador is seen.   (AP Photo/Rijksmuseum)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 7 comments
Kookey90
Aug 29, 2009 12:13 PM CDT
Hmmm, since the moon rock given by the three astronuts was really petrified wood (a fake), could this also mean that the moon landing was also staged. I wonder.
matteo
Aug 29, 2009 7:37 AM CDT
another proof that is was all invented !!
CaptainZ64
Aug 29, 2009 1:11 AM CDT
Our government lost the original moon landing footage then gives a chunk of petrified wood to a dignitary. Brilliant.

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