Featured Image Credit: NASA/Getty
Topics: International Space Station, NASA, US News
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A woman has been found guilty of lying about her ex-wife 'committing the first crime in space'.
Summer Worden, a former Air Force Intelligence officer from Kansas, made a wild accusation in July 2019 that her then-wife, NASA astronaut, Anne McClain, had tried to illegally access her bank account from out in space.
At the time, McClain was on a six-month mission at the International Space Station (ISS) and came as the first accusation of a crime taking place beyond Earth in human history.
Worden alleged her partner had guessed her password and ultimately illegally gained access to her bank account in January 2019 when the pair were still married.
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Putting her intelligence skills to the test, Worden claimed she asked the bank of the locations of computers that had recently accessed her bank account with her login details, reported The New York Times, which came back with a result of a network registered to NASA.
The claim sparked a widespread investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and NASA's Inspector General, the outlet added.
However, lawyers for McClain protested her innocence, stating she had Worden's permission to check over the family's finances, particularly to do with the child they were raising.
According to the NYT, Worden's son was born a year before the pair met and the mom had refused to allow McClain to adopt the boy, even after they tied the knot by the end of 2014.
In 2018, while still married, McClain approached a local court in Houston for shared parenting rights and cited Worden's poor financial decisions.
The investigation into Worden's allegation then revealed she had opened the account in 2018 and both she and McClain had access to it up until January 2019, from which point the 50-year-old had changed the credentials to log in.
In fact, prosecutors say Worden had given McClain consent and access to bank records from at least 2015.
The NASA astronaut protested her innocence, claiming that she only had access to the accounts to manage the couple's joint finances and with Worden's knowledge.
At the time of the report to cops, the couple were in the midst of an ongoing legal spat including a parental battle when Worden filed her complaint.
Now, the Segwick County resident has pleaded guilty to lying to law enforcement, US Attorney Nicholas J, Ganjei of the Southern District of Texas said in a press release.
The US District Judge Alfred Bennett accepted the plea on November 13 with sentencing set to commence on February 12 next year.
Worden now faces up to five years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine for falsely accusing the NASA pro of the crime.
She has been permitted to remain on bond pending that hearing.