Astronaut’s Ex-Wife Sentenced for Lying That Former Spouse Committed First Ever Crime in Space

Summer Heather Worden, the ex-wife of NASA astronaut Anne McClain, has been sentenced to prison after admitting she lied to authorities about McClain allegedly accessing her bank account while in space.

Worden, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, pleaded guilty in November to making false statements after accusing McClain of what she described as an illegal account access from the International Space Station. On Thursday, February 12, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said Worden was sentenced to three months in federal prison.

After her prison term, Worden will serve two years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $210,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors said Worden made the allegations while she and McClain were in the middle of a divorce. Authorities later determined McClain had not committed wrongdoing, but Worden continued to promote the accusation publicly, including to news outlets, and worked with a media consultant to spread the claim. Prosecutors also said Worden publicly disclosed McClain’s personal information.

Worden had alleged that McClain accessed her account in July 2019 by guessing the password while deployed to the space station. Investigators, however, found that Worden opened the account in April 2018 and that both women used it until January 2019, when Worden changed the login credentials. The investigation also concluded that Worden had granted McClain access to her bank records for years, including providing login information.

McClain and Worden were married from 2014 to 2019. Worden filed for divorce in 2018 following an assault allegation involving McClain; that case was later dismissed. The accusations about the bank account emerged during their divorce and a custody dispute involving their son. Their divorce was finalized in 2020.

McClain later returned to space as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission, which launched in March 2025 and concluded with her return to Earth in August 2025.