Conspiracy theorists rejoice: Prized 'moon rock' in Dutch national museum is a fake, page 1
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Topic started on 28-8-2009 @ 01:08 AM by Clickfoot
Full story

The Dutch national museum said Thursday that one of its prized possessions, a rock supposedly brought back from the moon by U.S. astronauts, is just a piece of petrified wood.

Rijksmuseum spokeswoman Xandra van Gelder, who oversaw the investigation that proved the piece was a fake, said the museum will keep it anyway as a curiosity.

"It's a good story, with some questions that are still unanswered," she said. "We can laugh about it."

The museum acquired the rock after the death of former Prime Minister Willem Drees in 1988. Drees received it as a private gift on Oct. 9, 1969 from then-U.S. ambassador J. William Middendorf during a visit by the three Apollo 11 astronauts, part of their "Giant Leap" goodwill tour after the first moon landing.


Please note: headline is theirs, not mine.

[edit on 28-8-2009 by Clickfoot]


reply posted on 28-8-2009 @ 01:50 AM by Thurisaz
reply to post by JBA2848



na... I think the US just didn't want to give them a real legit present.

I do it all the time a xmas~

Like giving a fake diamond to the Queen...save some money.

:?:


reply posted on 28-8-2009 @ 04:44 AM by Lasheic
reply to post by Exuberant1



True, were those the only factors involved. There's every evidence to indicate that we know the moon rocks we have came from the moon because we actually went there and picked them up. Some of the people who did so are still alive.



And this is why this news article is no coup for conspiracy theorists. Because it doesn't do anything to provide counter evidence to challenge the overwhelming evidence suggesting that we did go.

Therefore, what you consider "circular logic" is not a closed circuit of logic, but is rather mere confirmation.


reply posted on 28-8-2009 @ 06:26 AM by ngchunter
reply to post by stumason



It's quite simple; if a university geologist can quickly uncover a fake moon rock given by a diplomat who isn't even sure where he got it from, then it proves that if the other rocks are fake that experts could quickly uncover the forgery when examining the rocks. It directly proves that fake rocks can't slip by experts. You can't fake several hundred kilograms of ~3.9 billion year old moon rocks. At best you could try to pass off a lunar meteorite, but you won't find as much available and the fusion crust will be a dead giveaway.

[edit on 28-8-2009 by ngchunter]


reply posted on 28-8-2009 @ 07:05 AM by stumason
reply to post by ngchunter



The only reason this was "easily detected" was because it's a lump of wood. I'd hazard a guess and say anyone with a geological degree or training could tell.

Anyhoo, you seem to have taken a different tack to what I was alluding too. Namely, that Lasheic said that this was confirmation of the moon landing events. My question was, how can a lump of pretrified wood be seen as confirmation?


reply posted on 28-8-2009 @ 08:27 AM by ngchunter
Originally posted by stumason
reply to
post by ngchunter



The only reason this was "easily detected" was because it's a lump of wood.

It's easily detected because like every rock on earth, it has properties foreign to rocks that come straight from the moon.

I'd hazard a guess and say anyone with a geological degree or training could tell.

...which is why it's evidence for the moon landing; it shows that proper knowledge and the application of that knowledge can reveal whether or not a rock really came from the moon.

Anyhoo, you seem to have taken a different tack to what I was alluding too. Namely, that Lasheic said that this was confirmation of the moon landing events. My question was, how can a lump of pretrified wood be seen as confirmation?

See above, my whole point has been to explain how this lump of petrified wood can be seen as evidence supporting the moon landing. The bottom line is that experts won't tow the line that a rock really came from the moon just because a plaque from a government official says so.


reply posted on 28-8-2009 @ 08:36 AM by stumason
reply to post by ngchunter



I see what you're saying, don't get me wrong. I don't even buy into the whole "fake moon landing thing" anyway.

I was just curious how someone could claim a petrified piece of wood given to a PM from NASA (who told him it was moon rock) could be seen as "evidence" against a conspiracy.

It has taken over 40 years for this to be discovered, after all.

If anything, a piece of petrified wood given to anybody by NASA and told it was moon rock should set alarm bells ringing, not reinforce the case for a moon landing.

It's like somone giving you a rare flower that they said they got from some
isolated place, only to find out 40 years later it is in fact a plastic flower, then saying "Oh, well, they must still have gone to this rare place, this plastic flower, that was made in China, is proof"..

See what I'm saying?


reply posted on 28-8-2009 @ 11:04 AM by Phage
reply to post by stumason


The stone was not given to Drees by NASA. It was given to him by Middendorf who got it from the State Department. There is no confirmation that NASA was involved at all.

It should also be noted that the note to Drees from Middendorf (displayed with the rock) says nothing about it being a moon rock.
www.google.com...

[edit on 8/28/2009 by Phage]


reply posted on 28-8-2009 @ 11:35 AM by stumason
reply to post by Phage



The plaque also say's it was to commemorate the visit by the Apollo 11 astronauts (who worked for NASA), who had just visited the Moon and the Dutch were told it was a moon rock.


The "rock" had originally been been vetted through a phone call to Nasa, she added.

The US agency gave moon rocks to more than 100 countries following lunar missions in the 1970s.

BBC



reply posted on 28-8-2009 @ 11:53 AM by ngchunter
Originally posted by stumason
If anything, a piece of petrified wood given to anybody by NASA and told it was moon rock should set alarm bells ringing, not reinforce the case for a moon landing.

As pointed out by Phage, NASA was not involved in the transfer of this rock from a diplomat to a dignitary. The only Apollo moon rock in the Netherlands officially given to them by NASA is at the National Museum of the History of Science and Medicine, in Leiden, not the National Museum in Amsterdam.

It's like somone giving you a rare flower that they said they got from some
isolated place, only to find out 40 years later it is in fact a plastic flower, then saying "Oh, well, they must still have gone to this rare place, this plastic flower, that was made in China, is proof"..

Actually a more accurate analogy would be to say that you heard a story about an explorer who went to an isolated place, brought back tons of flowers, and had those flowers closely analyzed by the world's top botonists. 40 years later someone turns up with a plastic flower they were given by someone who works at the same company as the explorer and claims to have obtained one of the real flowers, though they can't remember who gave it to them or how that person got a hold of such a rare, valuable item. The presence of a plastic flower of dubious origin that can't even be traced back to the explorer does nothing to disprove his trip 40 years ago, but it does prove that fakes can spotted even when they have a compelling story behind them.

[edit on 28-8-2009 by ngchunter]
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