Summer Heather Worden, the former wife of NASA astronaut Anne McClain, has pleaded guilty to lying to federal authorities after accusing McClain of committing what she claimed was the first crime in space.
Worden, a onetime U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, entered her guilty plea on Nov. 13, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
The 50-year-old Sedgwick County, Kan., resident had alleged that McClain guessed the password to her bank account and “illegally accessed” it from the International Space Station in July 2019, federal prosecutors said.
However, investigators found that the account had actually been opened in April 2018 and that both Worden and McClain used it until January 2019, when Worden changed the login information. According to the DA’s office, the investigation also showed that Worden had provided her spouse with access to her bank records — including login credentials — as far back as 2015.
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McClain, 46, and Worden were married from 2014 until 2019. McClain, a West Point graduate and Iraq War veteran, joined NASA in 2013, according to The New York Times. She most recently served as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission, which launched in March and returned her to Earth in August, the outlet reports.
Worden’s accusations prompted an inquiry by NASA’s inspector general as well as the Federal Trade Commission. She filed for divorce in 2018 after McClain accused her of assault; that assault case was later dismissed, according to Missouri NBC affiliate KSDK.
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The allegations unfolded amid a contentious divorce and a custody dispute over the former couple’s son, who was six years old in 2018. Their divorce was finalized in 2020, KSDK reports.
U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett has set Worden’s sentencing for Feb. 12, 2026. She faces a potential sentence of up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000. She will remain free on bond until sentencing, prosecutors said.
