Shortly after their historic Apollo mission to the moon in 1969, the three astronauts (Aldrin, Collins and Armstrong) made a triumphant tour of Europe. While they were in the Netherlands, they gave Prime Minister Willem Drees a very special gift -- a moon rock. After Mr. Drees died, the moon rock was put on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where it had an honored place among the paintings by Dutch masters like Rembrandt. At one time, the rock was even insured for a half-million dollars.
Sadly, those days are gone. That's because the famous moon rock is a FAKE -- unless the moon was once covered by a forest. The museum recently had the rock evaluated, and it turns out that it is just petrified wood.
Xandra van Gelder, who oversaw the investigation of the moon rock, told the Associated Press, "It's a good story, with some questions that are still unanswered. We can laugh about it." The museum says it will keep the rock as a "curiosity".
What the hell is up with this? Petrified wood! The United States has given "moon rocks" to over 100 countries. I have to wonder now just how many of those are fakes. Were any of them real?
U.S. officials have said they have "no explanation" for this. The rock had supposedly been verified by NASA itself.
This is really embarrassing. Did those bozos at NASA think no one would ever check?
