NASA astronaut’s wife who said she was victim of ‘first crime committed in space’ admits she made it all up

There is a woman He pleaded guilty to a trumped-up charge that he illegally accessed his estranged astronaut wife’s bank account from space.

Summer Worden, 50, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for lying to federal agents and claiming to be the first victim of a crime committed off-Earth.

He has been in legal disputes for a year with his ex-wife Anne McClain, a former Air Force Intelligence officer, NASA astronaut and Iraq War veteran.

He falsely claimed that McClain guessed his password while aboard the International Space Station in 2019 and accessed his bank account in January of that year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

Worden pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of lying to law enforcement.

The damning accusation led to an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and the NASA Inspector General.

But federal investigators discovered that Worden gave his wife access to the accounts in 2015 because of the couple’s joint financial situation. New York Times reported.

Worden was accused and accused of lying about when he would open his bank account and change his password.

The indictment, unsealed in April 2020, charged Worden with two counts of making false statements to NASA’s Office of Inspector General and the Federal Trade Commission.

NASA astronaut and Iraq War veteran Anne McClain claimed that she accessed the account throughout the relationship and continued to do so after leaving Worden’s knowledge.

Their legal battle also involved Worden’s then-six-year-old son, who was born through surrogacy about a year before the couple met.

Worden filed complaints with both the Federal Trade Commission and NASA’s Office of Inspector General, claiming McClain tried to steal his identity, the Times reported.

At the time, Worden claimed that he mistakenly gave investigators the wrong dates for when he opened the account, but later gave the correct date.

He also claimed that he planned to change the password after the new account was created.

“I didn’t misrepresent anything,” he defended, according to the outlet.

The exes, who share children, had used the account for family expenses, and McClain’s attorney said that was why he continued to access the account.

She filed for divorce months after opening a personal bank account in 2018, but accused McClain of accessing that account in January 2019.

McClain claimed he accessed the account throughout the relationship and continued to do so after leaving Worden’s knowledge.

He added that Worden never told him he would no longer have access.

Worden had not allowed McClain to adopt the child, and McClain petitioned the court for shared parenting rights in 2018.

McClain returned to space as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission in March 2025 and returned to Earth once again in August.

Worden (left), who pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of lying to law enforcement in Texas, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000

Their legal battle also involved Worden’s then-six-year-old son, who was born through surrogacy about a year before the couple met.

Worden had not allowed McClain to adopt the child, and McClain petitioned the court in 2018 for co-parenting rights.

McClain argued at the time that Worden had an explosive temper and a history of making rash financial decisions. During the bitter custody battle, she asked the court to ‘legally confirm my established and deep parental relationship’ with her sons, the Times reported.

McClain said her access to Worden’s bank account was to make sure their son was being properly cared for.

Worden, however, argued that during their divorce and disagreement over their son, McClain should have reasonably known that it was inappropriate for him to access Worden’s account.

McClain went into space as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission in March 2025 and returned to Earth once again in August.

Worden, who is currently out on bail, is scheduled to be sentenced on February 12, 2026.