A woman has been convicted of fabricating claims about her ex-wife ‘committing the first crime in space’.
Summer Worden, formerly an Air Force Intelligence officer from Kansas, accused her then-wife, NASA astronaut Anne McClain, in July 2019 of attempting to unlawfully access her bank account while aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
During McClain’s six-month mission at the ISS, this allegation marked the first supposed crime beyond Earth’s confines in human history.
Worden claimed that McClain had guessed her password and illegally entered her bank account in January 2019, while they were still legally wed.
Utilizing her intelligence expertise, Worden purportedly asked her bank for the locations of computers that accessed her account using her login details. According to The New York Times, a network registered to NASA emerged as a result.
The allegation prompted extensive investigations by the Federal Trade Commission and NASA’s Inspector General.
Nonetheless, McClain’s attorneys defended her, asserting that she had Worden’s consent to oversee the family finances, particularly concerning the child they were co-parenting.
According to the NYT, the child was born a year before Worden and McClain met, and Worden denied McClain’s request to adopt the child, even after their marriage in late 2014.
In 2018, while still married, McClain sought shared parenting rights through a Houston court, referencing Worden’s financial mismanagement.
Investigations into Worden’s claims showed she opened the bank account in 2018, with both having access until January 2019, when Worden changed the login credentials.
Prosecutors revealed Worden had given McClain permission to view the bank records since at least 2015.
McClain maintained her innocence, asserting that her access to the accounts was for managing joint finances with Worden’s awareness.
When Worden reported the issue, the couple was already involved in a legal dispute, including a custody battle.
Summer Worden has now admitted to lying to law enforcement, as stated by US Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei of the Southern District of Texas in a press statement.
The plea was accepted by US District Judge Alfred Bennett on November 13, with sentencing scheduled for February 12 of the following year.
Worden could face up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for falsely accusing the NASA astronaut of a crime. She remains on bond until the sentencing.