A woman from Kansas has been sentenced to three months in federal prison after falsely accusing her former spouse, NASA astronaut Anne McClain, of committing a crime while aboard the International Space Station.
Summer Heather Worden, 51, a former Air Force intelligence officer, pleaded guilty in November to lying to law enforcement. She was also ordered to pay $210,000 in restitution and will serve two years of supervised release.
The case dates back to July 2019, when Worden alleged that McClain had illegally accessed her bank account from the ISS during their divorce. However, investigators found that Worden had given McClain access to her bank records and login credentials in 2015, and both parties accessed the account until January 2019 when Worden changed the credentials.
Even after an internal investigation cleared McClain, Worden continued to promote the false claim to news outlets and hired a media consultant. She also publicly released McClain's personal information.
McClain, who joined NASA in 2013 and recently commanded the SpaceX Crew-10 mission, maintained that she had permission to access the accounts. She stated that Worden 'presented a story with the intention of harm' and that 'overwhelming evidence disproved' the claims.
