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A moon rock given to the Dutch prime minister by Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969 has turned out to be a fake.
Curators at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, where the rock has attracted tens of thousands of visitors each year, discovered that the "lunar rock", valued at ￡308,000, was in fact petrified wood.
Xandra van Gelder, who oversaw the investigation, said the museum would continue to keep the stone as a curiosity.
The rock was given to Willem Drees, a former Dutch leader, during a global tour by Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin following their moon mission 50 years ago.
J. William Middendorf, the former American ambassador to the Netherlands, made the presentation to Mr Drees and the rock was then donated to the Rijksmuseum after his death in 1988.
"I do remember that Drees was very interested in the little piece of stone. But that it's not real, I don't know anything about that," Mr Middendorf said.
Nasa gave moon rocks to more than 100 countries following lunar missions in 1969 and the 1970s.
The United States Embassy in The Hague is carrying out an investigation into the affair.
Researchers from Amsterdam's Free University were able to tell at a glance that the rock was unlikely to be from the moon, a conclusion that was borne out by tests.
"It's a nondescript, pretty-much-worthless stone," said Frank Beunk, a geologist involved in the investigation.
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(Agencies)
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“阿波羅11號”的宇航員于1969年贈送給荷蘭首相的月球石居然是假的。
這塊石頭現(xiàn)保存在阿姆斯特丹國立博物館，每年吸引數(shù)十萬游客。該館館長發(fā)現(xiàn)，這塊價值號稱30.8萬英鎊的“月亮石”實際上是塊石化木。
負責調(diào)查監(jiān)督的桑德拉?凡?蓋爾德說，博物館會繼續(xù)將這塊石頭當作珍品保存。
50年前，尼爾?阿姆斯特朗、邁克爾?柯林斯和愛德文?“巴茨”?奧爾德林在完成登月使命后進行了一次全球之旅，并在訪問荷蘭時將這塊石頭贈送給了荷蘭前首相威廉?德雷斯。
時任美國駐荷蘭大使J?威廉?米登多夫?qū)⑦@塊石頭贈送給了德雷斯，1988年德雷斯去世之后，這塊石頭就被捐獻給了荷蘭國立博物館。
米登多夫說：“我記得德雷斯對這塊小石頭非常感興趣。但是至于這塊石頭是假的一事，我完全不知情。”
在1969年和20世紀70年代的幾次登月后，美國宇航局向100多個國家贈送了月球石。
美國駐海牙大使館正在對此事進行調(diào)查。
阿姆斯特丹自由大學的研究人員稱，他們一眼便能看出這塊石頭不可能來自月球，這一結論已通過測試證實。
參與這次調(diào)查的地質(zhì)學家弗蘭克?比昂克說：“這只是一塊普通的、沒什么價值的石頭。”
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