Man who promised his girlfriend 'the moon' quite literally steals Apollo moon rocks worth millions

We’ve all heard the cringe-worthy promises of someone going above and beyond — promising us the moon, if you will. But one NASA intern took the phrase quite literally, stealing moon rocks as an extraordinary gesture to his girlfriend, whom he had known for three weeks.

In 2002, Thad Roberts was working at NASA’s Johnson Space Center when he made off with 17 pounds of moon rocks valued at a staggering $21 million. Roberts, his girlfriend Tiffany Fowler, orchestrated the theft — also a NASA intern — and a third accomplice, Shae Saur.

Using their work IDs, the trio slipped into the centre after hours and managed to steal a 600-pound safe filled with lunar samples gathered from every Apollo mission.

Just when you thought the story couldn’t get any stranger, Roberts and Fowler then scattered the moon rocks across their bed — and, well, had sex on them.

The missing samples triggered an international manhunt.

Roberts and his accomplices listed the rocks for $2,000 to $8,000 per gram on the Mineralogy Club of Antwerp’s website under the pseudonym 'Orb Robinson'.

An avid rock collector found the listing dubious and alerted the FBI. A fourth accomplice, Gordon McWhorter, had set up the online listing and spoke with the collector.

  CBS/iStock

Undercover agents arranged a meeting as potential buyers at a restaurant in Orlando on 20 July 2002.

Roberts, Fowler and McWhorter were arrested in a hotel room where the stolen moon rocks were being kept. Saur was apprehended later that same day in Houston, Texas.

All four pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft and interstate transportation of stolen property.

In October 2003, Roberts was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for masterminding the heist, as well as for stealing dinosaur bones from a museum in Utah.

Fowler and Saur were each given 180 days of house arrest alongside 150 hours of community service, while McWhorter received a six-year prison sentence.

Although the moon rocks were recovered, they were deemed scientifically useless due to contamination.

“I, like many others, am filled with awe when I reflect upon how those rocks demonstrate humanity's limitless potential,” Roberts said in a 2011 interview with NBC News. “But that awe does not live within those rocks. It belongs to all of us. From experience, I can say that there are more appropriate, and more productive, ways to come face-to-face with our magnificent insignificance than stealing a piece of the moon.”

He added: “Whatever you do, don't repeat my mistakes.”

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