The insane story of a NASA intern who was jailed after stealing moon rocks for x-rated reason

Some stories are so crazy they bear repeating, and let’s be honest, what’s crazier than a NASA intern who stole lunar rocks totalling $21 million because his girlfriend wanted to have “sex on the moon?”

23 years ago last month, NASA intern Thad Roberts, his girlfriend of three weeks and another friend stole 17 pounds of moon rocks and a meteorite from Houston’s Johnson Space Centre. The crime, which occurred in the dead of night, involved authentic NASA badges, rewiring security cameras, and Neoprene bodysuits to avoid triggering thermal alarms.

“I was in love with Tiffany,” Thad told the LA Times in 2004. “In my mind, I was thinking, ‘Baby, I’d give you the moon.’ It would be a romantic start to our relationship.”

Thad Roberts wanted to have intercourse on the moon

Though Thad was the brains behind the operation with a triple degree in physics, geology and geophysics from the University of Utah, his co-conspirators were no slouches either. His girlfriend Tiffany worked at NASA’s tissue culture laboratory, and their friend, Shae Saur, was another intern.

Speaking to CBS in 2021, Thad reasoned: “In my own head, stealing something wasn’t the way I looked at it. We weren’t going to take this money we were getting from it to go buy a yacht or lots of cars or a big house. We were gonna live just the small kind of lifestyle we were, but fund science that might change the world, you know?”

Though the group did have x-rated plans for the moon rocks, they’d also set up a buyer from Belgium, who was willing to pay the asking price of $1,000 to $5,000 per gram.

Before meeting the buyer, Thad and Tiffany decided to take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Most Read

Every single picture and video from Bonnie Blue’s school stunt with 20-year-old Penelope Peaches

Lily Phillips shares utterly disgusting ‘before and after’ video and now I’m traumatised

Key fact about the cruise ship actually proves there’s ‘no way’ Amy Bradley fell overboard

“I take some of the moon rocks, and I put ’em underneath the blanket in the bed,” he said.

Credit: CBS

“I never said anything, but I’m sure she could feel it. She never said anything directly, either, but it was more about the symbol of what we were doing — you know, 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 group was jailed as a result

After being caught in a sting operation, Thad Roberts and his team pleaded guilty to the theft in 2002. The ringleader also admitted to stealing dinosaur bones and fossils from the Natural History Museum.

Thad Roberts was sentenced to eight years in prison, of which he served six, and both Tiffany and Shae Saur were issued 180 days of house arrest, 150 hours of community service, and a three-year prohibition. Gordon McWhorter, who helped find the Belgian buyer, was jailed for six years.

Lily Phillips might have broken a world record, but even she has yet to get jiggy on the moon.