Astronaut mum accused of first crime in space
NASA is investigating the first alleged crime in space after a couple’s bitter divorce row played out aboard the orbiting International Space Station.
Summer Worden has accused her astronaut wife, Anne McClain, of illegally accessing her bank account while orbiting in outer space.
Ms Worden, a former US Air Force intelligence officer, is reported to have suspected that her estranged wife knew details of her spending – despite being in orbit 250 miles above Earth.
She then found that a login had been made to her account from a computer registered to Nasa.
Ms McClain admitted accessing her ex’s bank account from the space station but has insisted she was just checking that there was enough money to pay bills and care for their child.
Ms Worden, who is said to have given birth before the couple met, has filed for divorce and accused the astronaut of identity theft and improper access to her records.
The space agency has said that it is investigating.
When they were still together, Ms McClain had gone to court seeking shared parenting rights on the grounds that Ms Worden was making poor financial decisions. Ms Worden’s parents have accused Ms McClain – who returned to Earth in June after six months in space – of a ‘manipulative campaign’ to win custody of the child.
Mark Sundahl, director of the Global Space Law Center at Cleveland State University, said: ‘The more we go out there and spend time out there, all the things we do here are going to happen in space.’