HOUSTON – A Sedgwick County, Kansas woman has pleaded guilty to lying to federal authorities after claiming her estranged spouse, who’s an astronaut, accessed her bank account while deployed to the International Space Station, U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei announced.
Summer Heather Worden, 50, admitted she falsely reported in July 2019 that her spouse had guessed her password and illegally entered her bank account from space. Investigators later learned Worden had opened the account in April 2018 and that both she and her spouse accessed it until January 2019, when Worden changed the login information.
The investigation also found Worden had previously shared her bank login credentials with her spouse and had granted access to her financial records as early as 2015.
In 2019, KPRC 2 interviewed Worden, who said she and Anne McClain, the astronaut, got married eight months after meeting but three years into the relationship, she said things got rocky.
Worden and McClain battled it out in court over divorce and a custody battle over Worden’s son.
U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett accepted Worden’s guilty plea on Nov. 13.
She is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 12, 2026, and faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Worden will remain free on bond until sentencing.
The NASA Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard D. Hanes and Brandon Fyffe are prosecuting.