Philip Holland (minister)

Transcription

According to the "Brisbane Times," on August 26, 2009, the Rijksmuseum announced "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...” The headline to the "Telegraph" article implicates the Apollo 11 astronauts even more harshly. "'Moon rock' given to Holland by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin is fake.” And since this story broke over a year ago, our moon hoax conspiracy friends have had a field day pointing to the fake Dutch moon rock as "evidence" that NASA has been lying all along about the manned moon landings and ALL the moon rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts are suspect. But, is that a valid conclusion? Did the Apollo 11 astronauts actually peddle "a fake moon rock" to The Netherlands? Are all NASA's moon rocks fake? Well, if you take the time to search for the truth, you will discover that these "news" articles are bits and pieces taken from the official story, with a few assumptions added along the way. First, the official story: In July 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin carried a collection of flags aboard their LM to the moon's surface and back. The collection consisted of the flags of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, four U.S. Territories; the flags of 135 other nations and the United Nations flag. The Apollo 11 Command Module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. The astronauts brought back from the moon nearly 50 pounds of lunar rock and soil, which went to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. This lunar material was quarantined for about fifty days in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) to make sure it didn't contain any moon germs. During that time, every sample was photographed, weighed, measured, dated, classified and cataloged by a Preliminary Examination Team (PET). Then, on September 12, 1969, the first 18 pounds of lunar material began being distributed to 142 principal investigators from the U.S. and eight other countries. The investigators or their representatives had to travel to the receiving laboratory to pick up the samples. Meanwhile, on the political front, the Nixon administration wanted to promote the U.S. space program - more specifically - they wanted to get other nations excited about the sharing of information and ideas for future space exploration and ultimately to share the cost. In November 1969, President Richard Nixon requested samples of lunar material from NASA to assemble about 250 gift displays. Each display would include one of the flags that was carried to the moon and back along with a small sample of lunar material. Elbert King, the first curator of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, didn't want to give any of his samples to Nixon to hand out as party favors, because of their great scientific importance. Eventually, he agreed to supply enough lunar material from samples that had been returned to the lab from testing to put together 250 small, clear acrylic buttons, each containing 4 tiny chips of lunar regolith. On average, these chips weighed about 50 mg. So, it took 50 grams of lunar material total to make the 250 displays. Once presented to the recipients, these lunar displays were no longer the property of NASA. They were not samples on loan; they were actual gifts. And as with any gift, the lunar samples became the sole property of the recipients, so NASA did not track them. In another effort to promote international involvement in space exploration, President Nixon thought it was a good idea to parade the three Apollo 11 astronauts around the world on a Goodwill Tour. So, between September 29 and November 5, 1969, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, along with their wives and support staff, were shuffled along by the U.S. diplomatic corps, traveling to 24 different countries around the world, on what was called "Operation Giant Leap.” They shook hands with 25-thousand people, and met with over a hundred world leaders over that 38-day period. During this tour, they flew into Amsterdam on October 9, 1969, after spending the previous night in Paris. They took a motorcade from the airport to Soestdijk Palace, where they presented Queen Juliana with three gifts: (1) A replica of the plaque left at the Apollo 11 landing site, (2) a framed and autographed photo from the Apollo 11 mission, and (3) a replica of the goodwill-message disc that was also left on the Moon. Queen Juliana received this last gift because she was special. She was one of only 73 world leaders who gave a goodwill-message that was included on the goodwill-message disk, which was left at the Apollo 11 landing site. The astronauts were then part of a short parade along The Rokin where they shook hands with fans. They took a canal boat ride to the RAI Congress Centre where they attended the opening of an exhibition on space technology called "Voyage to the Moon '69.” And then they headed back to Schiphol Airport for lunch before they were whisked off to Brussels. Altogether the astronauts were in The Netherlands for only a few hours and U.S. Ambassador, John William Middendorf II was seemingly by their side the entire time. But, wait minute. I didn't mention any moon rocks, did I? The "Telegraph" article specifically stated that the Apollo 11 astronauts gave THIS rock to the former Dutch leader Willem Drees during their world tour. Am I calling the unidentified reporter of this article a liar? Not at all. I'm simply saying that the article was poorly researched, and - probably in an effort to attract readers - the headline was worded inaccurately. Along with a simple math error putting Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon in 1959, the article makes several unsubstantiated assumptions about the Drees rock, which brings us to... The not-so-official story: On July 9, 1969, about two weeks before Armstrong took that first step on the moon, Richard Nixon appointed John William Middendorf II as ambassador to The Netherlands - a position that he held until June 10, 1973. Now, according to the "news" articles, on October 9, 1969, during the opening of an exhibition on space technology at the RAI Congress Center, Middendorf is presumed to have given a rock to then-FORMER Prime Minister, Willem Drees. The then-current Prime Minister of The Netherlands in October 1969 was Piet de Jong and the official Head-of-State was Queen Juliana. Drees was the first Prime Minister of The Netherlands under Queen Juliana, and served from August 7, 1948 until December 22, 1958. By 1969, Drees was 83 years old, had been retired from politics for over ten years and was almost completely deaf and blind. Willem Drees died in 1988 and sometime after that, his heirs found the rock and a card among his possessions. Assuming the rock and the card went together, they came to the conclusion that they had found a genuine moon rock. The only thing linking the Drees rock to the Apollo 11 astronauts and their trip to the Netherlands is that little tattered card with an inscription, which reads: With the compliments of the Ambassador of the United States of America, J. William Middendorf II, to commemorate the visit to The Netherlands of the Apollo-11 astronauts, Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. R.A.I. International Exhibition and Congress Centre, Amsterdam, October 9, 1969. Assuming that they had found a national treasure, Drees' heirs donated the rock to the Rijksmuseum in 1992, four years after Drees' death. The Rijksmuseum is a major ART museum in Amsterdam. As there were no resident geologists on staff in the ART museum to pass judgment on the stone, the museum made a call to NASA to verify the rock's authenticity, but since NASA didn't track their "gift rocks" after they were gifted, their reply was simply "that it was possible the [Netherlands] received a [moon] rock." That was the extent of the testing done on the rock and there was no clarification from NASA as to when or how The Netherlands may have received the moon rock. Then, in 2006, after sitting in the museum depot for most of 14 years, the Rijksmuseum made the Drees rock the centerpiece for an art exhibit named "Fly Me to the Moon.” Two years after the exhibit opened, a space consultant, named Arno Wielders, visited the museum and upon seeing the Drees rock for the first time, immediately doubted the rock's legitimacy. Being reddish in color, it didn't look anything like any moon rock he'd ever seen. He also doubted that NASA would have relinquished one of the first 50 moon rocks just weeks after they arrived on earth to anyone except one of the primary investigators. As the result of Arno's suspicion, the Drees rock was quickly tested and determined to be a piece of petrified wood. So, how do we resolve these two seemingly contradictory stories? Did the Apollo 11 astronauts give this rock to Drees as the "Telegraph" article's headline states, or did Middendorf give it to Drees as stated in the "Brisbane Times" article? Or, is there some other explanation we haven't considered yet? To find out, stay tuned for part two. Ciao moon hoax conspirators, wherever you are.