Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History

by Ben Mezrich

Thad Roberts, a fellow in a prestigious NASA program had an idea-a romantic, albeit crazy, idea. He wanted to give his girlfriend the moon. Literally.

Thad convinced his girlfriend and another female accomplice, both NASA interns, to break into an impregnable laboratory at NASA's headquarters-past security checkpoints, an electronically-locked door with cipher security codes and camera-lined hallways-and help him steal the most precious objects in the world:the moon rocks.

But what does one do with an item so valuable that it's illegaleven to own? And was Thad Roberts-undeniably gifted, picked for one of the most competitive scientific posts imaginable, a possible astronaut-really what he seemed?

Mezrich has pored over thousands of pages of court records, FBI transcripts, and NASA documents, and has interviewed most of the participants in the crime to reconstruct the madcap story of genius, love, and duplicity all centered around an Ocean's Eleven style heist that reads like a Hollywood thrill-ride.

• ISBN10: 0385533926
• ISBN13: 9780385533928
• Publish Date: 7 September 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 2 August 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc
• Imprint: Bantam Doubleday Dell
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 308
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

4.5★

Wow. Sex on the Moon was intense! I cannot believe that all of this really happened! I know some parts were exaggerated since this is a "dramatic account" of true events, but it still took place! Thad was living his dream. He married his high school sweetheart, he was a co-op at NASA, the higher ups seemed to impressed with him, so he was on his way to becoming an astronaut. Maybe even the first man on Mars. He was also admired by the others in the program, and had an amazing girlfriend (yes, he cheated on his wife). But he threw that all away when he devised a plan to steal lunar samples that were no longer being used to sell them for a quick $100,000.

Sex on the Moon had me hooked from the beginning. The author did a great job at setting up what was going on in Thad's life leading up to the point where he managed the largest heist in history. He had been thrown out of his family home due to religious reasons, he really had no one in his life other than his wife, so when he got accepted into the NASA co-op, Thad reinvented himself. He was popular and exciting, and known for pulling off stunts that no one else dared. It was easy to get caught up in the excitement with him, especially when he decided to rob the lab he worked in. His best friend and girlfriend thought he could do it, and so did Thad.And he did. But he also got caught.

In addition to the exciting true crime story, Sex on the Moon also gives us a tour of NASA and some interesting details about past projects. I loved this inside glimpse! Although with as much information as we're given about NASA, there's one thing I kept wondering, which is why I took off half of a star. I totally get why moon rocks are so valuable, but why is it illegal to sell/trade them? The ones that Thad took were considered trash, since they had been experimented on already, so they're locked away never to see the light of day again. Why can't those be sold to private collectors or museums? I'm sure NASA has some reason for this, but it was never explained. Although that's the kind of thinking that got Thad into this mess in the first place.

I loved Sex on the Moon. Thad's life really read like fiction. It's just so unbelievable that he was able to pull this off! Of course, it would have been even more incredible if he had gotten away with it, but he just happened to contact the wrong person to be a buyer in his haste to get this done.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.