Astronaut accused of fraud while on space mission

Nasa astronaut, Anne McClain, is accused of identity theft and improperly accessing her estranged partner’s private financial records while on a sixth-month mission aboard the International Space Station, the New York Times reports.

The divorce case has details that are all too familiar – two partners at loggerheads, a young child caught in the middle, and claims of financial malpractice.

Except there is a twist. The person accused of wrongdoing was in space.

In what is believed to be a first, Nasa is investigating if one of its astronauts committed a crime in orbit.

McClain, was taking part in a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) when the incident took place.

Taking advantage of the ISS’s internet connection, McClain accessed the bank account of her partner while they were separating, according to a New York Times report.

The partner, a former Air Force intelligence officer, Summer Worden, has accused McClain of identity theft and improperly accessing her finances, according to the account.

McClain has denied any wrongdoing, arguing that she was simply overseeing the couple’s intertwined arrangements.

Nasa’s Office of the Inspector-General is investigating.

The case appears to be unprecedented, with Nasa officials saying they were unaware of any previous crimes being committed on the space station.

Global Space Law Centre director at Cleveland State University, Mark Sundahl, said he was not aware of any crime being committed anywhere in space before.

“Just because it’s in space doesn’t mean it’s not subject to law,” Sundahl told the New York Times.

“The more we go out there and spend time out there, all the things we do here are going to happen in space.”

The couple were married in 2014.

Worden has a son who was born a year before she met McClain.

McClain wanted to adopt the child, according to The New York Times’s description of the divorce battle, but Worden resisted.

McClain’s lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said “she strenuously denies that she did anything improper” regarding accessing the bank account while in space and is totally cooperating with the investigation.

Now back on Earth, McClain reportedly sat for an interview with the inspector-general last week under oath.

McClain, a decorated pilot, was a West Point graduate who flew more than 800 combat hours in Operation Iraqi Freedom before joining Nasa in 2013.

She was due to be part of Nasa’s first all-woman spacewalk during her time on the ISS, but did not participate.

The case has thrown a spotlight on the unclear world of space law and what should happen if a crime is committed in orbit.

There are rules for what laws govern on the ISS, which has astronauts from America, Canada, Japan and Russia and several European nations.

National law applies to each person and their possessions.