Share and Follow
In a historic case from 2019, Summer Worden’s unfounded accusation against her estranged spouse, astronaut Anne McClain, marked the first instance of a criminal charge involving activities in outer space.
HOUSTON — On Thursday, Summer Worden, the former partner of a NASA astronaut, acknowledged her guilt in misleading law enforcement, as announced by U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Worden, age 50, now faces a potential federal prison sentence of up to five years along with a fine that could reach $250,000, stemming from her baseless 2019 allegations against Anne McClain.
In March 2019, Worden asserted that McClain had guessed her bank account password and unlawfully accessed it while stationed on the International Space Station. Despite being a former Air Force intelligence officer, Worden accused McClain of identity theft without any evidence of unauthorized transactions, as reported by the New York Times.
This incident became a landmark as the first criminal accusation against an individual in space.
McClain said from the beginning there was absolutely no truth to the allegations.
“Summer and I have been going through a painful and personal separation that is now unfortunately playing out in the media. I appreciate all the outpouring of support, and I will reserve any further comment until after the investigation concludes,” she said in August 2019.
During the investigation, the feds discovered that Worden actually opened the account in April 2018. Both parties had accessed it until January 2019 when Worden changed the credentials. The investigation revealed Worden had granted her spouse access to her bank records from at least 2015, including her login credentials.
Worden will be sentenced by a federal judge in Houston in February 2026.
Bitter custody battle
When she made the allegations, the couple was in the middle of a nasty divorce and custody battle over their son, who was six at the time.
They married in 2014, but Worden filed for divorce in 2018 after McClain accused her of assault. Worden denied the claim and the assault case was later dismissed.
The divorce was finalized in January 2020.
A few months later, Worden was charged with two counts of making false statements to federal authorities.
When the messy allegations by Worden first surfaced, McClain was a rising star at NASA, which stood by her then in a statement:
Lt Col. Anne McClain has an accomplished military career, flew combat missions in Iraq and is one of NASA’s top astronauts. She did a great job on her most recent NASA mission aboard the International Space Station. Like with all NASA employees, NASA does not comment on personal or personnel matters.
McClain made headlines for a different reason earlier this year when she returned to the ISS to relieve the stuck test pilots of Boeing’s Starliner.
Before leaving ISS after five months there, McClain made note of “some tumultuous times on Earth” with people struggling.
“We want this mission, our mission, to be a reminder of what people can do when we work together, when we explore together,” she said.
