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The estranged spouse of a NASA astronaut has admitted to misleading law enforcement about what was once claimed to be the first crime committed in outer space.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, Summer Worden could face a prison sentence of up to five years and a potential fine of $250,000 due to her false reports concerning Anne McClain.
“In July 2019, Summer Heather Worden accused her estranged spouse of guessing her password and unlawfully accessing her bank account while aboard the International Space Station,” stated the office.
“However, it was found that Worden had created the account in April 2018, and both had accessed it until January 2019, when Worden altered the login details,” the office continued. “The investigation uncovered that Worden had provided her spouse access to her financial records since at least 2015, which included her login information.”
NASA astronaut Anne McClain is assisted out of the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft after she and her fellow crew members landed in the Pacific Ocean on August 9, 2025, near the coast of San Diego, California.
The allegations made by Worden, which were the first of their kind to suggest a crime in space, prompted investigations by the Federal Trade Commission and NASA’s Inspector General, as reported by the New York Times.
Crew-10 mission commander Anne McClain smiles for a photo before heading to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 14, 2025. (Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images)
The newspaper described Worden as a decorated intelligence officer in the Air Force. It added that McClain, a West Point graduate and Iraq War veteran who joined NASA in 2013, returned to the International Space Station in March as commander of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission.
Worden and McClain divorced in January 2020, according to KSDK.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on March 14, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Prosecutors said a judge will sentence Worden on Feb. 12, 2026, and that she is allowed to remain on bond pending that hearing.
