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A NASA astronaut is accused of multiple crimes committed aboard the International Space Station (ISS), according to the New York Times.
US Army lieutenant-colonel Anne McClain faces allegations that she had access to her ex-wife's bank account during her 203-day mission aboard the ISS earlier this year . If he was found guilty, McClain would be the first person sentenced to a crime committed in space.
NASA began investigating the case after McClain's wife, Summer Worden, filed a complaint with the agency's Inspector General's office. Worden, who is arguing over a separation and childcare with McClain, has accused the astronaut of stealing identity and access to private financial records.
The conflict began when Worden noticed that McClain knew intimate details about his expenses. Worden, a former Air Force Intelligence Officer, asked his bank to locate computers that had recently accessed his account.
According to the New York Times investigation into the case, the bank returned to Worden with an unusual finding: one of the computers that had accessed its account was registered with NASA.
Worden's parents stated that McClain was using this account as part of a "highly calculated and manipulated campaign" aimed at getting custody of Worden's son, born about a year before the couple's marriage. After returning to earth, McClain admitted to accessing the account, but denied any wrongdoing.
McClain told investigators earlier this month that she was consulting the account from the space for the same reason that she had always had – to make sure that Worden had enough of it. Money to pay his bills and take care of his son. She added that she had used the same password as before and that she had never received any indication from Wordon that she still should not be able to access the account.
Worden and McClain got married in 2014, but Worden filed for divorce in 2018 after McClain charged her with assault. Worden denies this charge, according to the Times investigation, claiming that this was also part of McClain's efforts to secure custody of his child.
McClain joined NASA in 2013 after more than a decade in the military. The 40-year-old astronaut was even part of the first exit in NASA's all-female space, but several problems – the first equipment errors and later McClain's return to Earth – have delayed this effort.
While NASA is investigating charges against McClain, Mark Sundahl, director of the Global Space Law Center at Cleveland State University, says the charges are historic. Previously, no crime charges in space had been reported.
"It's not because it's in space that it's not subject to the law," Sundahl told The Times.
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