Woman who falsely accused NASA astronaut ex-wife of first crime in space sentenced to prison

The woman who falsely claimed her ex-wife stole her identity while on a space mission for NASA was sentenced to three months behind bars.

Federal prosecutors in Texas said Summer Worden also will be placed on two years of supervised release after she gets out of federal prison and must pay $210,000 in restitution. 

Worden, a 51-year-old former Air Force intelligence officer, pleaded guilty last November to making up a claim that her wife illegally accessed her bank account during the couple’s contentious divorce and custody battle.  

Worden claimed in March 2019 that her then-estranged wife, Anne McClain, a U.S. Army colonel and NASA astronaut, correctly guessed the password for her bank account during a six-month mission on the International Space Station.

Ms. McClain consistently denied wrongdoing as she prepared for what was intended to be the first all-female spacewalk while aboard the space station. The colonel’s lawyer said in 2019 that she was simply checking the couple’s joint bank accounts and had shared that with Worden. 

Prosecutors said that, despite an internal investigation from NASA clearing Ms. McClain, Worden continued to promote her false claim to the media. She even hired a consultant to boost the false claim among journalists.

Worden’s accusations were greeted with headlines around the world because it was the first time someone was linked to an alleged crime off-planet. 

Prosecutors charged Worden in 2020 after accusing her of lying about when she opened her personal bank account and when she changed her passwords.

The fake criminal accusations against Ms. McClain, and eventually the indictment against Worden, came during the couple’s custody battle for their 6-year-old son.

The couple married in 2014, but Ms. McClain accused Worden of assault in 2018. Worden denied the accusation, and the case was later dismissed, but she officially filed for divorce in 2018.  

Their separation was finalized in January 2020, just a few months before Worden was criminally charged.

Ms. McClain, a West Point graduate who was deployed during the Iraq War, has continued her career with NASA since the phony claim scandal.

Last year, she was the commander of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the space station from March to August.