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And Astroannimal stands accused!

https://www.foxnews.com/us/nasa-astronau...vorce-wife

https://nypost.com/2019/08/24/nasa-astro...rom-space/

It seems that Astroannimal (who is gay) is in the middle of a very acrimonious divorce battle with her (female) spouse. It's been going on for some time. Well, the spouse says she got suspicious when Astroannimal, who was in space at the time, had knowledge of the spouse's purchases that Astroannimal had never been told about. The spouse contacted her bank and was told that somebody had signed in with her user-name and pass-word, and the login came from a NASA computer.

The spouse made a complaint to the NASA Inspector General alleging identity theft.

Apparently there's also something about a son that they were raising together. The spouse already had the boy when she married Astroannimal. (Adopted? A previous relationship with a man? Artificial insemination?) During the marriage Astroannimal wanted to adopt the child and the spouse refused. Then when the divorce happened, Astroannimal sued for custody of the child. She lost, but assault allegations were made that probably burned bridges. Now Astroannimal says that she was just checking the bank account to make sure there was enough money for the boy.

Was it a joint bank account? If so, well and good. If not, then...

The stories make it sound like it was once a joint account but after they separated, the spouse told Astroannimal to stay out of it. Astroannimal, who has lawyered up, claims she was never told that.

This sounds to me like little more than shrill bitter divorce bullshit. I really doubt whether it will result in any criminal charges. If it did, it would be the first crime in anyone's memory perpetrated in space.

On the other hand, NASA doesn't like publicity like this.

(Aug 24, 2019 11:08 PM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]And Astroannimal stands accused!

https://www.foxnews.com/us/nasa-astronau...vorce-wife

https://nypost.com/2019/08/24/nasa-astro...rom-space/

It seems that Astroannimal (who is gay) is in the middle of a very acrimonious divorce battle with her (female) spouse. It's been going on for some time. Well, the spouse says she got suspicious when Astroannimal, who was in space at the time, had knowledge of the spouse's purchases that Astroannimal had never been told about. The spouse contacted her bank and was told that somebody had signed in with her user-name and pass-word, and the login came from a NASA computer.

The spouse made a complaint to the NASA Inspector General alleging identity theft.

Apparently there's also something about a son that they were raising together. The spouse already had the boy when she married Astroannimal. (Adopted? A previous relationship with a man? Artificial insemination?) During the marriage Astroannimal wanted to adopt the child and the spouse refused. Then when the divorce happened, Astroannimal sued for custody of the child. She lost, but assault allegations were made that probably burned bridges. Now Astroannimal says that she was just checking the bank account to make sure there was enough money for the boy.

Was it a joint bank account? If so, well and good. If not, then...

The stories make it sound like it was once a joint account but after they separated, the spouse told Astroannimal to stay out of it. Astroannimal, who has lawyered up, claims she was never told that.

This sounds to me like little more than shrill bitter divorce bullshit. I really doubt whether it will result in any criminal charges. If it did, it would be the first crime in anyone's memory perpetrated in space.

On the other hand, NASA doesn't like publicity like this.

Quote: If it did, it would be the first crime in anyone's memory perpetrated in space.

a Russian cosmonaut got married in space against orders.
however, For Russians Romance is a very strong cultural affinity so it would have looked very bad if they had of tried to make it a big issue.

Quote:This sounds to me like little more than shrill bitter divorce bullshit.

people try and get custody of the children just to punish the other adult.
it goes on all the time.
the other thing is one of the parents moving hundreds of miles away to another city before the divorce or custody process has been started or finished.

Quote: I really doubt whether it will result in any criminal charges.

the act took place in space, however in policy behavior contracts the action will be listed as 'use that is known to be against the rules or not against the rules'.

if she stole the password & user name then the bank can black list her and she wont be able to get an account with them.
they can then close any/all of her accounts & cancel all credit cards & cash cards and just send her a cheque in the mail.

i have seen one of those letters a friend had shown me to ask if it was legal.
the friend of a friend had given passwords & user names to the family members who were using their cards and over drawing money(creating debt in someone else's name)
then the friend of a friend was complaining at the bank attempting to get them to give them the money back that their family members had spent.
an old friend who worked as a Free community assistance budgeter said these types of things are very normal and usual, theft from a family member is always involved with people who are lost in personal debt with more money going out than coming in.
something close to 50% of those lost in debt are incapable of reading the basic terms and conditions of the financial processes they get involved in.

Quote:On the other hand, NASA doesn't like publicity like this.

it sounds like a personal family issue that NASA would not care to comment on.


gutter reporter types trawl court records for such things and/or have a court officer who tips them off(illegal)/they bribe

rich sports people is the big money news
politicians they seem to not discuss which is a little hypocritical.

it seems professional sports peoples private lifes are open season yet politicians are not.

complete moral hypocrisy


keeping in mind domestic abuse and domestic homicide and domestic sexual abuse take up around 50% of all crime figures...theft, financial theft fraud stealing destruction of property etc etc ...

there was the usa astronaut who had a mental break down in space and whom was having an affair with someone while married to someone else
i believe she was restrained and sedated on the space station for several days prior to being sent back early.

statistically if that is the only 2 events then they are doing really well.

foot note
tiny dick Republican politicians are always looking to validate some way to cut nasas budget
they trawl such information like sexual predators and get off on it.
they feed off it like a sexual predator feeds off pornography

Speaking of politicians and NASA...

The Obama administration cut NASA's planetary-sciences budget by 20 percent in 2013, as part of a restructuring plan, contrary to the recommendations of the National Research Council.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_poli...velopments

"When President Obama recently released his budget for NASA, he proposed a slight increase in total funding...the accompanying decision to cancel the Constellation program, its Ares 1 and Ares V rockets, and the Orion spacecraft, is devastating."
"It appears that we will have wasted our current ten plus billion dollar investment in Constellation and, equally importantly, we will have lost the many years required to recreate the equivalent of what we will have discarded.
...
"Obama called for sending a crew to a near Earth asteroid by 2025. ... Had Obama not canceled the Ares 5, we could have used it to perform an asteroid mission by 2016. But the President, while calling for such a flight, actually is terminating the programs that would make it possible."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_poli...#Criticism

Compared to:

After eight years in power, Republicans in the House of Representatives will soon hand over the gavel to Democrats. When the new Congress convenes in January, the chamber will contain dozens fewer Republicans—and fewer Republican supporters of space exploration.

The outcome of Tuesday’s elections will sweep several longtime champions of NASA out of the House. Some have held office for many years, and their interest in space exploration has led to hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for ambitious projects. Plenty of ardent NASA advocates remain in the chamber, but the departure of these well-known faces could lead to a shift in legislative priorities.
- https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...ce/575320/

The question was: Would a Republican-held Congress go along with the plan? There is a well-documented history of Republican disdain toward regulatory agencies like the EPA, and the climate change research conducted by programs like NASA's Earth science division. Trump gave the GOP a big chance to dramatically scale back some of these programs.

But a year later, none of that came true. In fact, the reverse occurred: This budget matches or exceeds many of the requests the Obama administration made during its final year in office.
- http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-dav...udget.html

So I guess it's the "tiny dick" Democrats.

(Aug 24, 2019 11:08 PM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]. . . Apparently there's also something about a son that they were raising together. The spouse already had the boy when she married Astroannimal. (Adopted? A previous relationship with a man? Artificial insemination?) During the marriage Astroannimal wanted to adopt the child and the spouse refused. Then when the divorce happened, Astroannimal sued for custody of the child. She lost, but assault allegations were made that probably burned bridges. Now Astroannimal says that she was just checking the bank account to make sure there was enough money for the boy.

[...] This sounds to me like little more than shrill bitter divorce bullshit. I really doubt whether it will result in any criminal charges. If it did, it would be the first crime in anyone's memory perpetrated in space.

On the other hand, NASA doesn't like publicity like this.

According to this, the ex (Summer Worden) turned this into a public spectacle because she was "losing" the custody battle over the son.

. . . “controlling” ex-US Army lieutenant ... “The person I married, is not the person I know today ,” Worden said. “I’m just fighting for my son. That’s it.” Worden called on her former partner to “take the pressure off and drop the case.” ... “If she ever wants to have a relationship with Briggs or talk with Briggs or be informed on Briggs’ life, clearly just as a decent human being, the right thing to do is to stop trying to force and take through the court system,” Worden said.

Like a game of chicken, criminal charges versus custody case. Given the global fan base AstroAnnimal probably acquired during her stint in space, this approach might only rally her popular support all the more. 

https://twitter.com/AstroAnnimal/status/...2702070785

There’s unequivocally no truth to these claims. We’ve 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. I have total confidence in the IG process.

https://twitter.com/breezybaldwin/status...2773602304

@AstroAnnimal can we get a Little Earth / Paxi update? Are they still in space? How is their astronaut training going?

Is littering a crime? Endangering others? How about animal abuse, poor little chimps et al? Espionage and perhaps some top secret military gadgetry? That shit is probably legal. Can you lay naked in a back yard without some satellite snapping your picture, lol? Invasion of privacy?

Someday, Someone Will Commit a Major Crime in Space
https://slate.com/technology/2019/08/spa...ation.html

EXCERPT: Add the word space before any mundane word, and suddenly it becomes way sexier. Space law. Space marriage and babies. Space archaeology! And most recently, in the news: space crime. ... Space crime seems poised to get a lot messier. “There are going to be crimes and instances of negligence, and we don’t have a system to deal with that yet,” says [...Michelle Hanlon, a professor of air and space law at the University of Mississippi...] We have some guidelines written into existing space law, but in their current form, they’re loose suggestions more than functioning policy.

[...] The current space station agreement simply says that all affected countries will talk to each other and negotiate a solution. That seems reasonable with the space programs we currently have, where the small number of astronauts heading to the space station are highly vetted, and criminal accusations are infrequent enough that they can be considered on a case-by-case basis.

But once space tourism takes off, these guidelines are not going to hold up for long. The space station agreement, as you might guess, only applies to the International Space Station, and if private companies launch their own shuttles and bases, the process for determining jurisdiction is even murkier. Let’s consider the same watch-stealing example, but with citizens aboard a private space hotel. Civilian A from Country A accuses Civilian B from Country B of stealing her watch, in an incident that allegedly occurred in a pod built by Country C that’s part of a spacecraft licensed and launched by Country D. Technically, according to the Outer Space Treaty, nation-states claim responsibility for spacecraft they launch or sponsor, as well as any damage they may cause. But there’s no law that specifically governs human behavior in space. That means that technically Country D would be responsible for determining next steps here—but countries A and B might have a problem with that, and the whole thing could quickly devolve into a bureaucratic nightmare.

Consider, also, that crime often goes beyond stealing watches. Though there are no recorded severe space crimes, there have been incidents in other high-pressure, isolated environments, like the Antarctic researcher who, after six months at the isolated base, stabbed a colleague (though initial reports that he did it because the co-worker kept spoiling the endings of books seem to have been inaccurate). Exercises merely designed to simulate outer space have also spurred crime.

... It’d be smart to get to work on establishing rules before a major space crime is committed. [...space lawyer Thomas Gangale...] likens it to earthquakes in California: “We know it’s coming, but we just don’t know what to do about it yet.” There might be opportunities to entirely reform our criminal justice system, but it’s more likely that we’ll just adapt terrestrial laws to handle space crime ... As a model of how new policies could be coordinated, Hanlon points to how quickly the international community rallied around the budding airline industry.... (MORE - details)

As we seem bent on colonizing the planets & moons, can there be any doubt that someday humans will wage war over select locations. If not battling in space but even here on Earth. Imagine killing one another over space rock on our ancestral soil. Can’t think of a bigger crime than that.

Then again, imagine destroying extraterrestrial life even if only through curiosity & mistake. Unintentional but would it be criminal? What laws apply to space? International, marine?

(Aug 31, 2019 02:16 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: [ -> ]As we seem bent on colonizing the planets & moons, can there be any doubt that someday humans will wage war over select locations. If not battling in space but even here on Earth. Imagine killing one another over space rock on our ancestral soil. Can’t think of a bigger crime than that.

Then again, imagine destroying extraterrestrial life even if only through curiosity & mistake. Unintentional but would it be criminal? What laws apply to space? International, marine?

Yeah, I guess current animal rights and planetary protection target protocols would at least tentatively apply. (After all these decades, it's still humorous -- albeit necessary to move the story along -- how sci-fi entertainment in interstellar context completely ignores microscopic contamination of planets. Even if a passing reference was made to nanobots in the bloodstream protecting the haphazard visitors from potential infections, they'd still be releasing foreign agencies from their own bodies upon the exo-world habitats.)

Once ordinary people and commercial activity enter the picture in significant numbers -- as opposed to limited amount of trained/qualified workers... Then "rules" go out the window as the former intermittently kill something and contaminate environments both ways just as they've done with invasive species on Earth. If there's any complex life under frozen Europa, though, it's difficult to imagine such ever being as easily accessed as cane toads and pythons.

Metalaw for intelligent or quasi-intelligent extraterrestrials ("Do unto others as they would have you do unto them." -- "we must find out how they wish and require us to treat them.").

Planetary Protection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection

The Legal Rights of Extraterrestrials (1977)
http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/LegalRightsOfETs.htm

Metalaw and Interstellar Relations (1977)
http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/MetalawInt...ations.htm

Legal implications of an encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence (2015)
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2770/1

10 Laws, Rules, And Regulations For Extraterrestrial Contact
https://listverse.com/2017/03/12/10-laws...l-contact/

Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra-Terr...posure_Law

Space Law (general, little to do with ET life)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_law