In 2002, 24-year-old NASA intern Thad Roberts stunned the scientific community with an audacious theft. Alongside his girlfriend Tiffany Fowler and fellow intern Shae Saur, Roberts stole 17 pounds of moon rocks worth $21 million from NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
The FBI called it one of the most bizarre crimes in space history. Roberts, a triple-degree science prodigy from the University of Utah, had a romantic — and equally reckless — reason. He claimed he wanted to impress Fowler by symbolically giving her “sex on the moon.”
From Romance to Robbery
Roberts met Fowler, a 22-year-old stem cell researcher, during his NASA internship. They quickly became a couple, moving in together in weeks. Soon after, Roberts pitched his wild plan: steal moon rocks from NASA’s secure Building 31.
The idea fascinated Fowler. They brought in Shae Saur as a lookout. The group meticulously planned the operation, tampering with security cameras, using authentic NASA badges, and wearing Neoprene bodysuits to enter NASA’s “airless” lunar sample vault.
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Inside, Roberts and Fowler wheeled out a safe containing the moon rocks. Later, they used a power saw to crack it open.
The Infamous ‘Sex on the Moon’ Moment
Roberts placed some moon rocks under his bed sheets before an intimate encounter with Fowler. He later told CBS in 2012, “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, basically having sex on the moon. It’s more uncomfortable than not, but it wasn’t about the comfort at that point. It was about the expression. And no one had ever had sex on the moon before. I think we can safely say that.”
The Hidden Profit Plan
While Roberts claimed romance drove his heist, the FBI revealed another angle — greed. Investigators discovered Roberts had contacted a potential buyer in Belgium, offering the rocks at $1,000 to $5,000 per gram.
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But the buyer grew suspicious and alerted authorities. The FBI set up a sting operation, leading to Roberts and his team’s arrest.
Sentences and Fallout
Roberts pleaded guilty in 2002 to stealing 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. He served over six years and was released in 2008.
Fowler and Saur pleaded guilty and received lighter punishments — house arrest, community service, and restitution. Another accomplice, McWhorter, was sentenced to six years in prison.
Roberts and Fowler’s relationship ended after the crime.
Pop Culture Legacy
The strange blend of romance, crime, and space history inspired Ben Mezrich’s 2011 book Sex on the Moon. The tale remains one of NASA’s most talked-about breaches, both for its outrageous symbolism and its audacious execution.
Even today, the moon rock heist raises questions. Was it truly a grand romantic gesture gone wrong, or a calculated theft for profit wrapped in a love story?
For Thad Roberts, the answer might always lie somewhere between the stars and the evidence locker.
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