Is this the first crime committed in space?

A leading astronaut denies accusations of identity theft and improper access to her ex-partner's private financial records.

Anne McClain could become both the first woman to walk on the moon and the first person to commit a crime in space
Image: Anne McClain is shortlisted to become the first woman to walk on the moon
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For couples splitting up, it can feel as if your ex-partner is going to the ends of the Earth to make things difficult for you. 

For one woman, she believes her former spouse's disagreeable behaviour extended into space.

NASA is investigating a claim that an astronaut accessed the bank account of her ex-partner while living at the International Space Station (ISS), according to The New York Times.

In what could be the first crime committed in space, astronaut Anne McClain is accused of identity theft and improper access to her ex-wife's private financial records.

Ms McClain, who is thought to be on the shortlist to become the first woman on the moon, said she accessed the account but did nothing wrong.

Her ex-partner Summer Worden is reported to have complained to the federal trade commission and her family lodged a complaint with NASA's office of inspector general.

Ms McClain has returned to Earth after six months on the ISS and is contesting the complaint, telling The New York Times she was monitoring the family's finances in the same manner that had been previously agreed between the two women.

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"She strenuously denies that she did anything improper," her lawyer said.

Ms McClain and Ms Worden, an air force intelligence officer, married in 2014 and had been raising Ms Worden's son together before they split in 2018.