The woman who once claimed her astronaut ex-wife committed the first crime in outer space is now headed to federal prison.
Summer Heather Worden, the ex-wife of NASA astronaut Anne McClain, has been sentenced to three months in federal prison after admitting she falsely accused McClain of illegally accessing her bank account from the International Space Station.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced on Thursday, Feb. 12, that Worden, 51, will also serve two years of supervised release and pay $210,000 in restitution.
Worden, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, pleaded guilty in November 2025 to lying to law enforcement. Her claims had previously sparked headlines around the world when she alleged McClain had committed the first-ever crime in space.
The accusation centered on claims that McClain had guessed her password and accessed her personal bank account while deployed to the International Space Station in July 2019. At the time, the couple was in the middle of a contentious divorce.
But investigators later determined that Worden had opened the account in April 2018 and that both she and McClain had accessed it until January 2019, when Worden changed the login credentials. Authorities also found that Worden had granted McClain access to her bank records as far back as 2015, including sharing login information.
According to federal prosecutors, even after an internal investigation cleared McClain of wrongdoing, Worden continued to push the claim publicly. Officials said she promoted the allegation to media outlets and hired a media consultant to amplify the story. Prosecutors also stated that she released McClain’s personal information during the ordeal.
McClain, 46, and Worden were married from 2014 to 2019. Worden filed for divorce in 2018 after McClain accused her of assault, though that case was later dismissed. Their split included a custody battle over their son, and the divorce was finalized in 2020.
Despite the legal drama, McClain’s career continued. She most recently served as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission, which launched in March 2025 and concluded with her return to Earth in August.