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If you commit a crime, you are subject to the laws of where you committed that crime. In some cases, you can be extradited to another country. But what if you commit a crime...in space?
Historically, this hasn't been of much concern. Astronauts that are selected to participate in a NASA program are selected from a large pool of applicants by outperforming their peers in a variety of criteria via physical, psychological and personality assessments. To be an astronaut, you had to have "the right stuff." No one involved in the Mercury, Gemini or Apollo missions would have ever anticipated a NASA astronaut committing a crime in space. That is, until 2019.
In 2013, Anne McClain, a decorated U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, was selected as one of eight members of NASA's 21st astronaut class. McClain was a helicopter pilot and flew more than 2,000 flight hours on over 20 different aircraft during her military career. She served in Iraq and later became a member of the US Army's Space and Missile Defense Command. McClain's credentials include academic achievement as well - she earned a bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering from the US Military Academy at West Point in 2002, a master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Bath in the UK in 2004, and a master's degree in International Relations from the University of Bristol in the UK in 2005. On paper, she had "the right stuff."
NASA astronaut and U.S. Army LTC Anne McClain. Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
McClain completed her astronaut training in 2015 and made her first spaceflight in December 2018 as a flight engineer on the Soyuz MS-11 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). During her time on the ISS, McClain conducted two spacewalks, totaling over 13 hours of extravehicular activity.
In 2019, while McClain was serving on the ISS, a legal dispute arose between her and her estranged spouse, Summer Worden. The dispute centered around custody of Worden's son and the couple's finances. Worden had filed for divorce and accused McClain of accessing her bank account without permission while she was in space. Those allegations could carry charges of hacking and wire fraud.
McClain admitted to accessing the account but claimed that she was only checking the family's finances to make sure that there was enough money to take care of Worden's son, whom McClain had helped raise during their relationship. McClain also claimed that she had been given the password to the account by Worden and that she had never moved any money or done anything illegal.
The incident was investigated by the NASA Inspector General's office, which found no evidence of any wrongdoing on McClain's part. The agency stated that "Lt Col. Anne McClain had accessed the bank account from the International Space Station with the same password that she had used on previous occasions. She stated that she was checking to ensure that the family's accounts were in order and there was sufficient funds to pay bills and care for Summer's son."
In March 2020, the case was dismissed by a judge in Houston, Texas, who ruled that there was no evidence that McClain had done anything wrong. However, the case did receive significant media attention and sparked a debate about the boundaries of privacy and access to information for astronauts and their families while they are in space.
The story doesn't end there. In April 2020, several outlets reported that Worden, who accused McClain of hacking into her bank account from space, was charged with two counts of making false statements to federal authorities, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
If convicted, Worden faced up to five years in prison on each count and a possible $250,000 maximum fine. Worden's trial was set for 2022, but information on the trial's conclusion was not made public.
The story of McClain's "hacking" into her spouse's bank account was covered by many national outlets with high reach, including the New York Times, NBC News, Fox News and CNN.
In the end, McClain was absolved of spacecrime, leaving the crime statistics of those living in Earth's orbit enviable to even the most exclusive gated communities.
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