Moon rock heist at NASA: A romantic gesture ends in an international crime

In 2002, Thad Roberts, an intern working at NASA, devised an extraordinary plan to fulfill his promise of gifting the Moon to his girlfriend. Roberts, who was stationed at the Johnson Space Center, secretly broke into the safe where Moon rocks brought back from Apollo missions were stored, with the help of another intern, Shae Saur.

The pair stole a total of 7 kilograms of Moon rocks and fled the scene. The value of the stolen rocks is estimated at 21 million dollars.

Following the heist, Roberts and his girlfriend spread the stolen rocks out on a bed. The incident took on an international dimension when the rocks were offered for sale on the website of a mineralogy club in Belgium. The Moon rocks were listed at prices ranging from 2,000 to 8,000 dollars per gram.

A Belgian rock collector noticed the situation and reported it to the FBI. The FBI contacted Roberts and his team under the guise of a fake buyer. The team, which had put the rocks up for sale under the pseudonym "Orb Robinson," was caught in an operation organized by FBI agents. The operation was carried out on the 33rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Following the heist, the stolen Moon rocks became scientifically unusable because they were not properly preserved. Additionally, nearly 30 years of handwritten notes belonging to a scientist, which were stored in the NASA safe, were also damaged. Thad Roberts was sentenced to 8 years and 4 months in prison in 2003 and was released in 2008. After his release, he reappeared in the public eye by writing books on theoretical physics.