A viral meme claiming lesbians commit “100% of all space crime” has resurfaced, referencing the 2019 case of NASA astronaut Anne McClain—the only person ever investigated for alleged criminal activity in space.
During a six-month ISS mission, McClain was accused by her estranged wife Summer Worden of improperly accessing Worden’s bank account from orbit. Worden filed complaints with the FTC and NASA alleging identity theft.
Initially reported as potentially the first space crime, the investigation later cleared McClain entirely. Federal prosecutors instead charged Worden with making false statements to authorities. Investigators found McClain had accessed the account with prior consent, as she’d done throughout their relationship to manage family finances.
Though the allegations proved false, the case sparked the ongoing joke about lesbian space crime statistics—technically accurate as it remains the only investigated space crime case, despite being unfounded.Charges against Anne McClain were dropped in 2020.
McClain strongly denied the charges, with her lawyer saying that she was using a login that Worden had shared with her to check on her intertwined family finances.
“She strenuously denies that she did anything improper,” her lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said at the time, adding that she is “totally cooperating” with investigating officers.
McClain wrote on X/Twitter at the time that the couple had been going through a “painful, personal separation that’s now unfortunately in the media.”
“I appreciate the outpouring of support and will reserve comment until after the investigation,” she continued.
Almost a year later, Worden was indicted over the false accusations after the Department of Justice alleged that she had made factually incorrect statements to NASA’s oversight agency, the Office of Inspector General (OIG), and the FTC by falsely claiming to have changed her login details to prevent McClain from using her bank account.
“She claimed she had opened a new account in September 2018 and reset her login credentials in order to prevent the individual from accessing her accounts,” the unsealed indictment reads.
The account in question was reportedly opened in April 2018, before the couple had split. Furthermore, Worden had not changed her login details until after the incident in question.
The incident inadvertently outed McClain, who was not out as a lesbian at the time. She is the third LGBTQ+ astronaut to enter space after Sally Ride and Wendy B Lawrence.
Sorry, folks! The only thing lesbians are guilty of in orbit? Having impeccable taste in celestial drama.
wow, a new show “Cops: Lesbian Space Crime”, can go with “Star Wars: Lesbian Space Witches”