How an Intern Stole NASA's Moon Rocks | Hacker News Reader

How an Intern Stole NASA's Moon Rocks

gizmodo.com

33 pointsbarry-cotter13 comments

"While the theft of the lunar and martian geological samples had made headlines last summer, the missing clothbound journals, the work of NASA Senior Scientist Everett K. Gibson Jr. on the origins of the universe, were unknown publicly until the trial." http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-072202a.html#04

...What? You honestly want me to believe that NASA had secret research on the origins of the universe squirreled away in one of the most secure locations on Earth? That's borderline conspiracy theory territory.

What made that file worth hiding in the same vault as the lunar and Martian samples?

What made that file worth hiding in the same vault as the lunar and Martian samples?

Maybe a boring scientific reason like the vault was environmentally controlled so the clothbound journals were better stored there?

Excellent reasonable answer. But isn't this space very valuable?

Its not only climate controlled, but protected by a variety of security measures. All of these are expensive. So you would assume that whatever goes into the vault would have to be worth these expenses.

Then again, people are people, and tend to shove things where they'll fit. Another interesting point: NASA listed the journals as stolen, but Roberts denies he ever had them.

Hmm... Why not put an armed guard directly in front of the vault? In my experience, most geeks don't mind fooling sensors, but blanche at the thought of physically hurting someone.

Yes. And no need to arm the guard.

Interesting, even if the author suggests that Sneakers is a bad movie.

Tiffany and Thad arranged the moon rocks on a bed—and had sex amongst them.

That's the hottest scene in a geek movie ever.

This is fake, right?

This is most definitely real, as indicated by trials and served time of the individuals responsible.

It does read like a short story, but no, do a search and there are journalistic as well as other narrative sources. Also Thad's homepage if you want to check out his quantum field theory... http://moebiusgroupe.com/qst/whoisthad.html

Sometimes the truth is just awesome. Unfortunately it's hard to know when.

Building 31 North is one of the few buildings on earth constructed under Class 100 standards:it is a structure that can withstand 1000 years of water submersion, among other durability metrics that should not be tested this side of Armageddon.

Sounds really cool, but that's not what Class 100 is. From Wiki.

Cleanrooms are classified according to the number and size of particles permitted per volume of air. Large numbers like "class 100" or "class 1000" refer to FED-STD-209E, and denote the number of particles of size 0.5 µm or larger permitted per cubic foot of air

I smell more than just a little embellishment.

The cool thing about artistic license is supposed to be the readers never see it. It's supposed to meld right into everything else.

If the original Lunar video tapes are gone, and so are the rocks, I am back to thinking that NASA faked the whole moon landing...

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