NASA intern and colleagues steal 600-pound safe of lunar samples, FBI recovers them in Orlando sting
In 2002, a NASA intern and two other interns removed a 600-pound safe containing Apollo moon rocks and other materials from Johnson Space Center; the FBI intercepted an online sale and recovered the items during a meeting in Orlando.
On the night of July 13, 2002, a NASA intern named Roberts, together with two other interns, entered Johnson Space Center using their credentials and removed a 600-pound safe from a laboratory linked to Everett Gibson. Inside were lunar specimens from the Apollo missions, a piece of a Martian meteorite and Gibson’s handwritten research notes, collectively valued at around $21 million and weighing about 17 pounds. The safe was reported missing on July 15, and an online ad offering the material for sale appeared in June, prompting a Belgian collector to involve the FBI.
Federal agents, masquerading as prospective buyers, coordinated a meeting for July 20, the anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, in Orlando. During the encounter, investigators recovered the stolen items and arrested the suspects, while the contamination of the samples rendered them scientifically compromised. Subsequent arrests included the other interns and an associate, and the case highlighted vulnerabilities in the security of NASA’s extraterrestrial collections.
Why it matters
The breach exposed security gaps at a major research facility and resulted in the loss of irreplaceable scientific material.
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