American astronaut Anne McClain has been accused of committing the first ever recorded crime in space. NASA is investigating McClain after it was claimed that she accessed the bank account of her estranged wife, Summer Worden, whilst on board the International Space Station.
McClain and her wife have reportedly been involved in a bitter divorce battle for the last year, as well as fighting for custody over their son. According to a report in the New York Times Summer Worden filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and the NASA Office of Inspector General accusing McClain of identity theft and improper access of her bank accounts whilst on the ISS.
McClain responded to the accusations through her lawyer, stating that she was merely accessing the account to check on her family's resources, and claimed that this was something that she had done on previous occassions. She said that she did so to make sure Worden had enough money to support their son.
Rusty Hardin, McClain's lawyer said, 'She strenuously denies that she did anything improper.'
A statement from NASA said that 'NASA has no statement on this and does not comment on personal or personnel matters. Anne McClain is an active Astronaut.'
The five space agencies involved in the space station,fromthe United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada, have long-established procedures to handle any jurisdictional issues that arise when astronauts of various nations are orbiting Earth together. But the director of the Global Space Law Center at Cleveland State University, Mark Sundahl, said he was not aware of any previous allegation of a crime committed in space. NASA officials said they were also unaware of any crimes committed on the space station.
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