The first crime in the history of mankind has been committed in space
Crime has relatively recently crossed the boundaries of the digital space, giving rise to such a concept as cybercrime. But the other day it became known that now the attackers are operating outside of our planet. NASA is investigating the first crime in the history of mankind committed by a man in space.
The ex-wife of the American astronaut Ann McClain has accused her of secretly monitoring the state of her bank account. The conflict, which originated long before McClain's flight into space, has received an unearthly continuation and is being followed with interest all over the world.
The astronaut's former life partner, retired US Air Intelligence officer Summer Worden, noticed that someone else was logging into her bank account. The woman appealed to the bank's security service with a request to understand the situation and secure her accounts from possible intruders.
Anne McClain
To the surprise of everyone, one of the computers from which the unauthorized entry into Warden's bank account was made turned out to be registered with NASA. After that, it was not difficult to understand who was showing criminal curiosity about other people's income and Summer Warden began to act.
The woman wrote a statement to the US Federal Trade Commission, which deals with similar offenses unrelated to the theft of money from accounts. The investigators waited for McClain to return to Earth and called her for a conversation.
Summer Warden
Under oath, Ann said that in fact, she repeatedly showed curiosity and entered the banking service under the username and password that the couple used during their life together. In her defense, the female astronaut said that she just wanted to make sure that their four-year-old son, who is together with Summer, does not need anything. In addition, McClain emphasized that when the couple parted, they did not say that Warden would use the account alone.
Neither NASA nor the Center for Global Space Law at the University of Cleveland, whose specialists were involved in an interesting case, had never before encountered a crime committed on the International Space Station. Since the crime committed by Ann, although not serious, is criminally punishable, now we need to solve the question of where and how to judge a woman.
Since the ISS belongs to Russia, the United States, the European Union, Japan and Canada, all specialists working on it are accountable to the law in their own country. It is also possible to extradite the criminal to another state if there is a need to bring the attacker to justice.
Experts believe that if Ann is convicted, the sentence will not be too harsh. Firstly, Colonel Ann McClain is an honored officer of the US Air Force with an impeccable reputation and has many NASA awards, and secondly, her actions did not imply malicious intent.
Keywords: NASA | Astronauts | Bank card | Income | Cosmonautics | ISS | Criminal | USA