NASA intern Thad Roberts stole $21M Moon Rock: All You Need to Know!

Over 23 years ago, NASA intern Thad Roberts carried out one of the most audacious thefts in the agency’s history, stealing 17 pounds of moon rocks and a meteorite valued at $21 million from Houston’s Johnson Space Center. At the time, Roberts, 24, was a triple major in physics, geology, and geophysics at the University of Utah, financially struggling, and married.

In July 2002, Roberts and friend Gordon McWhorter sought a buyer, connecting online with a Belgian interested in paying $1,000–$5,000 per gram. However, the buyer alerted the FBI, who began an investigation. Around the same time, Roberts started a relationship with fellow NASA intern Tiffany Fowler. After revealing his plan, Fowler agreed to help, and they recruited another intern, Shae Saur. Using their NASA IDs, the trio accessed the facility and stole the 600-pound safe containing lunar samples.

Back at a hotel, they cracked it open with a power saw. On July 20, 2002—the 33rd anniversary of the first moon landing—Roberts placed moon rocks under the bed covers, later claiming the couple had “sex on the moon” as a symbolic act. “It’s more uncomfortable than not, but it wasn’t about the comfort… no one had ever had sex on the moon before,” he said in 2012.

When meeting the supposed buyers, they were met by undercover FBI agents. The rocks were recovered but deemed “virtually useless to the scientific community,” with decades of research notes destroyed. Roberts served six years in prison, while Fowler and Saur received house arrest and community service.