NASA investigating crime allegedly taken place in outer space
Aug 24, 2019, 8:13 PM
FILE - In this handout provided by NASA, Expedition 58 Flight Engineer Anne McClain of NASA waves during a press conference on December 2, 2018 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for Dec. 3 and will carry McClain, Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos, and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) into orbit to begin their six and a half month mission on the International Space Station. (Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/NASA via Getty Images)
(Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/NASA via Getty Images)
The United States was the first nation to put a man on the moon. Now, it looks like the United States could be the first nation to have its to commit a crime in space.
The New York Times says NASA is investigating a crime that was allegedly committed by an American astronaut.
The investigation is looking into what did or didn’t happen aboard the International Space Station, or ISS.
Astronaut Anne McClain accessed a bank account from the space station. Accessing a bank account from space is legal.
McClain’s estranged spouse, Summer Worden, claims the McClain didn’t have the right to access the account.
Worden filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
McClain, through her lawyer, says she did nothing wrong.
McClain says was checking to make sure there was enough money to pay the bills. Worden and McClain had been raising a child together.
Improperly accessing a bank account constitutes identify theft.
NASA tries to prepare for every possibility in space. It turns out the earth-bound lawyers had prepared for legal issues in outer space, too.
Four nations plus the European Union occupy the ISS. These nations agree that any crime committed by someone in space will fall under the jurisdiction of his or her own nation.
Astronauts would be exploring even more new places of untested space law if a person committed a crime against a citizen of another nation.
