Moon Rock and the significance of the Moon Landing

There was a news article on BBC World News today called "Fake Dutch 'moon rock' Revealed".  The article is about a moon rock that was a gift from the Apollo 11 astronauts to then-Prime Minister Willem Drees of the Netherlands.  They had verified it over the phone with NASA, but now it turns out that it's just a lump of petrified wood.  The article mentioned that it was given on a "goodwill tour" in 1969, and that the US gave moon rocks to over 100 countries in the 70s.

I could have gone in many different directions with this article.  Part of me wanted to look into all the different US moon missions.  Or maybe investigate the Rijksmuseum where it's currently housed.  Or maybe more about the procedure for verifying a moon rock over the phone.  But in the end I was drawn to this "goodwill tour".  Somehow seeing the astronauts' names on the plaque made me wonder about their role as goodwill ambassadors of the United States.  So after some searching, I found this: The Journey After “One Giant Leap for Mankind”, which is on the official US State Department Blog.  It appears that the astronauts were sent on a goodwill tour to 24 countries over 45 days in the second half of 1969.  The blog claims that "The Commander in Chief authorized the Boeing presidential aircraft for their use", which might mean they rode on what was Air Force One at the time.  (Of course, that is somewhat less exciting than being on Apollo 11, but still quite impressive).

What I found interesting, too, was the list of countries that they visited, the countries with whom we were to "share information gained from the flight with other nations and to share plans for future space exploration."  Given that it was the height of the Cold War, and the Space Race was seen as yet another competition between USA and USSR, I'm not surprised to see the decided lack of Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and North Korea.  Seeing as the US was also embroiled in the Vietnam War, I'm not sure if I expected a visit to Vietnam or not.  A visit there to show off American accomplishments to the American troops there would make sense.  After all, they also visited West Berlin, much like shoving a rock in the Soviets' face.  On the other hand, Vietnam might be a touchy subject.  It turns out that they didn't visit Vietnam, but instead stopped at Thailand.

Also interesting is the list of countries that I didn't expect them to visit -- Zaire, Yugoslavia, Iran, Bangladesh.  The surprise I felt reminded me of the ever-changing flow of history and the changing relationships between nations.  For example, this was before the Iranian Revolution, so Iran was a major ally in the Middle East.  Bangladesh, on the other hand, was technically still part of Pakistan, so that probably made an interesting political statement at the time.  This investigation has opened more topics for me to investigate further!