Decorated NASA astronaut Anne McClain allegedly stole her estranged wife’s identity and improperly accessed her bank account from space, while McClain was on a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
The wife, Summer Worden, is a former Air Force intelligence officer who now lives in Kansas, and McClain have been locked in an ugly divorce since 2018 that includes a nasty parenting dispute, the New York Times reported.
McClain had posted photos of Worden’s son, whom she was helping to raise before their split, but had never openly acknowledged her relationship with Worden.
McClain was supposed to be part of NASA’s first all-female spacewalk in March before it was canceled for a lack of properly fitting spacesuits.
Though Worden filed for divorce in 2018, McClain continued to ask her highly detailed questions about her financial life, Worden claims. That led Worden to have her bank check into who had recently accessed her bank account, and the bank found access from a NASA computer network, according to reports.
McClain, in an under-oath interview with NASA’s inspector general, said she accessed the bank account from space to make sure Worden had enough money to pay the bills as she always has, using a password she’s had for some time.
“She strenuously denies that she did anything improper,” said her lawyer, Rusty Hardin, who said the astronaut “is totally cooperating.”
McClain remains a lieutenant colonel in the Army. Stars and Stripes reported this week that she is on a list of candidates NASA is considering to be the first woman on the moon. NASA previously said the first female astronaut will make such a mission by 2024. McClain was not publicly out as lesbian before the legal tussle.
