Numerous space artifacts — from a shuttle memory module to a Gemini space boot — were found in a 2003 search at the home of a former Kansas museum leader, newly released documents in his federal theft case claim.

Max Ary, the co-founder of the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, was charged last month with allegedly stealing memorabilia from the museum he headed for 27 years, then selling them for profit.

A revised indictment made public Wednesday — a day after it was handed down by a grand jury in Wichita, Kan. — adds eight charges to the original 11-count indictment, including three each for mail fraud and money laundering.

It also offers details on a Dec. 18, 2003, search of Ary’s home in Oklahoma City — where he is on leave from running the Kirkpatrick Science and Air Space Museum. According to the indictment, federal agents found numerous items that belonged to the Cosmosphere and bore museum identification numbers.

Five days after that search, the indictment claims Ary turned over three boxes of items as part of the investigation. Prosecutors say the boxes contained dozens of items, from U.S. flags flown in space to Soviet cosmonaut armbands to a letter from Dwight Eisenhower.

Lee Thompson, the Wichita, Kan.-based attorney for Ary, said he would continue to fight to assert his client’s innocence, though he said the case should be a civil dispute, not a criminal proceeding.

Asked to explain why Ary had such Cosmosphere items in his possession, Thompson said: “Who says they belong to the Cosmosphere?”

Thompson said that question is an important part of the defense. “There’s a substantial question as to the ownership on a large number of items.”

Ary was instrumental in transforming a small-town planetarium in Hutchinson, Kan., into a nationally recognized collection of space memorabilia.

Under his leadership, the Cosmosphere, about 200 miles southwest of Kansas City, grew from a two-person operation to a space museum with about 70 employees and 285,000 annual visitors.

In 2003, after Ary’s departure, the center’s board of directors became aware that artifacts apparently had been sold without its approval and that the museum did not receive the money.