In 2019, a startling accusation made headlines around the world: a U.S. astronaut had allegedly committed the first known crime in space. Summer Heather Worden, a former Air Force intelligence officer, claimed that her estranged wife, NASA astronaut Anne McClain, illegally accessed her personal bank account from aboard the International Space Station.
The story felt made for global headlines — space, betrayal, cybersecurity, and the lawless frontier of orbit. But this month, the saga took a sharp turn. Worden pleaded guilty in federal court to lying about the core details of her accusation. The alleged “space crime” — once the subject of media fascination and legal handwringing — never happened.
Saved you a click.
So not only did the accuser lie, the headline did as well. There was no crime.
“It Was Not the First Non-crime in Space History” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
The space crime allegation was a legal mirage,” said Prof. Michelle Hanlon, a space law expert at the University of Mississippi,
Wait, isn’t figuring things like this out like literally the only job someone called “space law expert” should do?
What do you mean “legal mirage”? You had one job. Space law. One thing ever has happened that needs a space law expert, and you don’t know?
It’s pretty funny :D
Actually, it’s not just space crimes that require space law. It’s also space corporations, space intellectual property, space land appropriation, and space whaling.
I guess this is what actually made her a space law expert.
