HOUSTON, Nov 17 — A former Air Force intelligence officer has pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents after she fabricated a sensational “space crime,” falsely accusing her estranged astronaut wife, Anne McClain, of illegally accessing her bank account from the International Space Station (ISS).
Summer Worden, 50, entered the guilty plea on Thursday, more than five years after her claims against McClain, a decorated US Army colonel and combat veteran, made international headlines, CNBC reported.
The saga began in 2019 when Worden, then in the midst of a bitter divorce and custody battle with McClain, filed complaints with Nasa and the Federal Trade Commission.
She alleged that McClain had committed identity theft by accessing her bank account from the ISS, where McClain was serving a six-month mission.
The accusation came at a high-profile moment for McClain, who was preparing for what was billed as Nasa’s first all-female spacewalk.
However, the dramatic claim unravelled under scrutiny. A federal investigation revealed that Worden had granted McClain access to the bank account years earlier and had only changed the login credentials in January 2019, shortly before making her complaint.
McClain’s lawyer maintained at the time that the astronaut was simply monitoring the family’s joint finances, as she had always done.
Worden was subsequently indicted for making false statements to federal authorities. Her trial was scheduled to begin next week, but she has now pleaded guilty.
She remains free on bond and faces a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison at her sentencing in February.
McClain’s career, meanwhile, has continued. She recently commanded the SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the ISS.
