Once in a blue moon, someone reaches for the moon, steals it, and feels over the moon. This is the story about Thad Roberts and his girlfriend, Tiffany Fowler, who stole moon rocks and Holbrook specimens from NASA.
In 1990, the lunar 19 gram fusion crusted whole stone, Calcalong Creek was discover in Australia. This was the first lunar meteorite discovered outside Antarctica. Generally, it was and still is currently illegal to sell or own moon rocks brought back from the Apollo missions. I say, “generally” since President Nixon gifted two commemorative plaques in 1970 and 1973 containing small samples of moon specimens brought back from Apollo 11 and Apollo 17. Since Calcalong Creek was not a part of the Apollo lunar collection, it could be sold legally at that time.
At age 23, Thad Roberts was a triple major in physics, geology, and geophysics at the University of Utah and founder of the Utah Astronomical Society. At one of the Astronomical Society Star Gazing events at the observatory, Thad met fellow student, Gordon McWhorter, who would later become an accomplice to the epic crime.
In 2001, Roberts was accepted into NASA’s elite “Co-op” educational program for aspiring astronauts. Assigned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, the 24 year old Thad had arrived. At the time, Thad was married to Kaydee Wilson, his high school sweet heart.
Thad was anxious about his opportunity at the Johnson Space Center. Thad told CBS news, “So it was kind of stressful to figure out, ‘How am I gonna do this? How am I gonna outperform, how am I gonna learn as much as possible and take advantage of all this without the kind of money that everyone else has?'”
Thad was sent to building 31 to help prepare delicate earth rock for NASA testing. The building also held moon rocks in its vault. NASA’s lunar vault became an obsession, however, the vault’s security required two people to open it. Thad had a reputation for risk taking and rule breaking. He once sneaked onto and used the Space Shuttle simulator.
Dr. Evert Gibson, had a 600 pound file cabinet safe which contained 53 lunar samples, from every Apollo lunar mission, weighing 101 grams. He also had in the safe, a single Martian specimen and some Holbrook meteorites he collected himself in 1968 that belonged to his personal collection. The federal government estimated the value of the specimens at $21 million. Thad asked Dr. Gibson, if he would show Thad’s wife Kaydee a lunar sample. Dr. Gibson obliged and looked at the back of a label on the file cabinet before opening the safe. Thad thought he now knew where the combination was to the safe. Dr. Gibson showed Kaydee a piece of the moon, and she was thrilled. Dr. Gibson also took out a small Holbrook meteorite sample from the safe and gave it to Kaydee. She was grateful for the gift.
Later, Thad contacted his friend, Gordon McWhorter, who he met at the star gazing event, and asked him what he thought about selling a moon rock? Gordon Googled selling moon rocks. It became apparent that it was illegal to sell Apollo moon rocks. Gordon avoided U.S. mineral collectors and sent about 50 emails, using the alias, Orb Robinson, to international mineral collectors trying to sell a multi-carat moon rock. Axel Emmermann of Antwerp, Belgium, received the email. Axel wrote back he was interested, if it could be proven that Orb Robinson had a real moon rock. Axel contacted the F.B.I. in the U.S. The F.B.I. pretended to be Axel’s sister-in-law and then started direct communications with Orb Robinson.
Thad had a reputation as a risk taker and rule breaker at NASA. He sneaked into the space shuttle simulator. Thad started seeing intern Tiffany Fowler and planned to steal the NASA moon rocks. Three weeks after they met, Thad, Tiffany together with another female intern Shae Saur entered the NASA building at night using their NASA badges. They reached the file cabinet safe, and Thad thought the tag on the safe had the combination, however, it only had a reminder to Dr. Gibson of what the code was. Since they could not open the safe, they wheeled it out of the building using a Dolly. They put it in their vehicle and drove to a motel where they opened the safe with a power tool. When Thad and his girlfriend, Tiffany, were alone in the hotel, Thad scattered the lunar rocks under a blanket on the bed and made love on the moon.
On the 33rd anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, Thad, Tiffany and Gordon believed they were meeting American relatives of the Belgian collector to sell the Apollo moon rocks at an Italian restaurant in Orlando, Florida. The relatives were FBI agents who arrested Thad, Tiffany and Gordon. The lunars, Martian, and Holbrooks were recovered in the hotel room. Unfortunately, decades of Dr. Gibson’s research notes were never recovered. In addition, the chain of custody of the lunar samples were now broken.
Tiffany Fowler and Shae Sauer received six months home confinement. Gordon McWhorter was sentenced to six years in prison. Thad Roberts was sentenced to eight years in prison. Thad never saw Tiffany again, and his wife divorced him. The moon has a dark side, and Thad Roberts found it.
Goodbye
This will be my last article for Meteorite Times. I hope you enjoyed all of them. Best wishes in your meteorite endeavors! Mitch
References:
“Million dollar moon rock heist” National Geographics 2012
“Man Steals Moon Rock for Love” CBS (CBS News Sunday Morning)
“I fell under the spell of NASA’s most notorious thief” by Jamie Zvirzdin, The Atlantic, Feb. 15, 2019,
“Thad Roberts – the NASA intern who stole lunar rocks to ‘have the moon’ “, by Saumya Agrawal, Timesnownews updated April 23,2021
“Sex on the Moon” Ben Mezrich
Microsoft Word – M3 Calcalong_rev_.doc (nasa.gov) Calcalong Creek (meteorite)
Can You Legally Own Lunar Rocks In The United States? | Kershaw, Vititoe & Jedinak, PLC (monroecountylawyers.com) – by stevejedinak – May 1, 2020
Timesnownews.com – Thad Roberts – the NASA intern who stole lunar rocks to “have sex on the Moon” – Saumya Agrawal
