Sex
on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in
History
by Ben Mezrich [629.4 Mez]
The true story of Thad Roberts,
a third-year NASA co-op, who stole moon rocks in July, 2002 from a NASA safe and
tried to sell them online. So titled because he put a small bag of samples from
Apollo 11 on a bed beneath the sheets and he and his girlfriend had sex on the
moon rocks. The story begins at high school for Thad as his strictly religious
father throws him out of the house for having sex with his girlfriend. They
eventually marry while he attends college and wins a co-op to NASA. Thad is
living the dream (at least for us space fans) but his marriage is falling apart
when he meets a fellow co-op. Spurred by his desire to impress her, he embarks
on this insane scheme. Interesting to see how easily he actually accomplished
the theft, and wish the author had mentioned how NASA changed security protocols
(if they changed protocols and did heads roll?), but as a frustrated space cadet
this reader couldn't believe how he threw it all away. It's especially
interesting to follow the story of the European rock hound who answers Thad's
offer to sell the moon rocks. You'll spend most of your reading time slapping
your forehead with your hand saying, "What was he thinking?!" but you can't put
down this tale of stupidity until the bitter end. -- recommended by Charlotte K. - Bennett Martin Public Library
[Also
available in downloadable
audio, book-on-cd
formats.]
[ official Ben Mezrich web site ]
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