Sex on the Moon by Ben
Mezrich
Space the final frontier and always a fascination to me. When I was in High School I was so enamored
by the space program that I wrote to NASA for any information on space and the
program. Several weeks later I received
a large envelope filled with information and beautiful pictures of space and
stars. Along with the packet was something totally unexpected, a letter from
one of the Directors of the program ( I no longer remember who) informing me
that if I was interested in the program to contact them after I finished
college. I kind of laughed at the time
because even though I was very good at sciences and was a pre-med major in
college my Math and physics skills were laughable. Oh and in addition I suffer from motion
sickness which at times can be really bad so being an astronaut was therefore
out of the question. My scope of
knowledge of available positions at NASA was limited to being an astronaut, who
knew there were people who actually supported the program doing other things. So
I read the wonderfully written information, hung up the beautiful pictures and
moved on. Another opportunity lost.
The title of this book interested me. You know me and titles. The book is about Thad Roberts and the book pretty
much starts with events that altered his life.
He grew up Mormon in Utah and was sent on his two year mission. The first night in the dorm he and other
young men in his dorm confess to premarital sex something considered a sin in
their religion. He and his High School girlfriend could not wait for marriage.
Unlike the others who kept this admission of guilt to themselves, Thad tells it
to the “headmaster” and is asked to leave.
His parents disown him. He ends
marrying his high school girlfriend but they are very young and are struggling
to make it.
One day he finds himself in the career center at the
University of Utah looking for something that will pay a little more money and
he finds literature about the Space Center Program. This changes the course of his life and he
does everything he can to obtain a coop position which is basically an
internship position at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston.
He gets it because he is a very intelligent young man. The internship literally changes his life in
so many ways. He goes from being a shy
awkward man to being the center of attention.
He dares to do what none of the others would ever dream to do like
getting himself into buildings at the JSC where he does not have clearance. He loved the attention in fact he craved the
attention which caused him to make decisions he should not have made. This book deals with his personal
transformation, the Johnson Control Center, wonderful insites into the space program and his scheme to steal the very
valuable moon rocks brought back by the Apollo missions. I must say it is very interesting stuff
although my title for the book would have been Stealing the Moon.
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