NASA is currently investigating what could be considered the first crime perpetrated in space, after one of the agency’s astronauts was accused of illegally accessing her wife’s bank account during her stay on the International Space Station. Investigators have yet to decide if the event actually constitutes a crime, but this case does raise questions about how we should handle criminal activity in space in the future.
For the last 50 years, the majority of people who have flown to space have been representatives of their nations’ governments, such as NASA astronauts or Russian cosmonauts. Typically, these space-bound crew members have exhibited model behavior while in space, without any major conflicts in orbit. Their destinations have…