So,
this article came out about a month ago now, I'm a little behind (see previous post), but I just couldn't let it slip by.
It's a rather entertaining read. It's the story of how an intern, Thad, stole some Moon rocks from JSC back in 2002, or I should say, it's Thad's version of the story. Although Thad and I never crossed paths, I too was an intern in building 31 and then a grad student and then a postdoc, and I can assure you that nearly every word of this account is totally fabricated, with the possible exception of this, my favorite line, "Sometime between the heist and its resolution, Tiffany and Thad arranged the Moon rocks on a bed—and had sex amongst them." Ugh, the contamination! Not to mention, that can't have been comfortable.
The truth is that the safe Thad and his girlfriend stole was from a scientist's office not the vault, and the altruistic spin he tries to put on his escapades, that he was taking "returned samples" that no longer had any scientific value is ludicrous. All of the Moon rocks have scientific value, even samples that have been previously studied, and these particular samples had been allocated to the safe's owner for use in specific experiments.
Thad has served his sentence and is apparently now trying to get a book deal. I wish him luck. No, on second though, I don't. What an ass.
