When a NASA intern stole $21 million worth of Lunar rocks— to impress his girlfriend

Mint

2 days ago

In 2002, a shocking theft rocked NASA, literally. Former NASA intern Thad Roberts, along with his then-girlfriend Tiffany Fowler and two other friends, stole 17 pounds (7.7 kg) of lunar samples valued at $21 million. The motive? According to Roberts, it was to impress his love interest. But the FBI later revealed there was also a financial angle.
The bizarre incident, detailed by People magazine and later in Ben Mezrich's 2011 book Sex on the Moon, saw the young intern and his team go to extreme lengths to pull off the heist. They tampered with security cameras, donned Neoprene bodysuits, and carried authentic NASA badges to access the highly secure Building 31, where the moon rocks were stored.
At the time, Roberts was a 24-year-old prodigy with triple degrees in physics, geology, and geophysics from the University of Utah. During his internship at NASA, he met 22-year-old stem cell researcher Tiffany Fowler. The two quickly became romantically involved and moved in together within weeks.
Roberts soon shared his audacious plan to steal moon rocks, which piqued Fowler's interest. They enlisted another NASA intern, Shae Saur, to help.
On a July evening, Roberts and Fowler entered Building 31 while Saur kept watch, monitoring the compromised security system. The couple accessed an airless lab, removed a safe containing lunar samples, and later cracked it open with a power saw.
In one of the strangest twists, Roberts reportedly placed some of the moon rocks under his bedcovers, claiming it was a symbolic gesture of 'having sex on the moon.' Speaking to CBS in 2012, he said:
'I mean, the simple answer is to say that I did it for love. I did it because I wanted to be loved. I wanted someone to know that I'd cared about them that much. And to have the symbol there to remind them of it. It was more about the symbol of what we were doing… And no one had ever had sex on the moon before. I think we can safely say that.'
Roberts also claimed Fowler was unaware of the rocks under the blanket, though he hinted she might have felt them during their intimate moment.
While Roberts maintained it was an act of love, the FBI uncovered another motive: money. Investigators found that he had been in contact with a potential buyer from Belgium who offered between $1,000 and $5,000 per gram for the rocks. When the buyer became suspicious of their origin, they alerted the FBI, triggering an undercover operation that led to the arrests.
Roberts pleaded guilty in 2002 to stealing the moon rocks and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He also admitted to stealing dinosaur bones and fossils from the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake City while at the University of Utah. He served just over six years before being released in 2008.
Fowler and Saur pleaded guilty and were given house arrest, community service, and ordered to pay restitution. Another accomplice, McWhorter, was sentenced to six years in prison. Roberts and Fowler ended their relationship after the incident.