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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(hào)”的宇航員于1969年贈(zèng)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(guó)立博物館，每年吸引數(shù)十萬(wàn)游客。該館館長(zhǎng)發(fā)現(xiàn)，這塊價(jià)值號(hào)稱30.8萬(wàn)英鎊的“月亮石”實(shí)際上是塊石化木。
負(fù)責(zé)調(diào)查監(jiān)督的桑德拉?凡?蓋爾德說，博物館會(huì)繼續(xù)將這塊石頭當(dāng)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(jìn)行了一次全球之旅，并在訪問荷蘭時(shí)將這塊石頭贈(zèng)送給了荷蘭前首相威廉?德雷斯。
時(shí)任美國(guó)駐荷蘭大使J?威廉?米登多夫?qū)⑦@塊石頭贈(zèng)送給了德雷斯，1988年德雷斯去世之后，這塊石頭就被捐獻(xiàn)給了荷蘭國(guó)立博物館。
米登多夫說：“我記得德雷斯對(duì)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(jì)70年代的幾次登月后，美國(guó)宇航局向100多個(gè)國(guó)家贈(zèng)送了月球石。
美國(guó)駐海牙大使館正在對(duì)此事進(jìn)行調(diào)查。
阿姆斯特丹自由大學(xué)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(jié)論已通過測(cè)試證實(shí)。
參與這次調(diào)查的地質(zhì)學(xué)家弗蘭克?比昂克說：“這只是一塊普通的、沒什么價(jià)值的石頭。”
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（英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津陳丹妮 姍姍編輯）
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