Word: spaces
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...that man has taken the first small steps toward exploring and exploiting extraterrestrial bodies, he must face up to an important question: What laws will govern his conduct in space...
Legal experts have theorized about the problems of space exploration since well before the first Sputnik was launched in 1957, though their speculations were largely limited to questions of national sovereignty. After a United Nations committee studied the problem, the General Assembly adopted a resolution in 1961 affirming that the U.N. Charter applied to outer space and that celestial bodies were open to exploration by all states...
...present, the moon's legal status is determined by a 1967 U.N. treaty on outer space that has been signed by 92 nations, including the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Communist China, North Viet Nam and North Korea, none of them U.N. members, have not signed the treaty. The treaty provides that the moon cannot be claimed by any country, that lunar military bases may not be established, and that visitors from the earth are to be considered "envoys of mankind." The U.S. observed each of these provisions last week. Though Neil Armstrong planted his nation's flag...
...Luna 15 had landed with cosmonauts aboard, they would have had the right to look over Eagle. On the other hand, the U.S. could have refused entry by citing the treaty's provision that such inspection must be requested in advance, and must not interfere with normal space operations...
Other, more detailed space treaties are currently being developed in Geneva by the U.N.'s outer space legal subcommittee, and a number of earthly analogies may be used for guidance. One such treaty now under discussion deals with the thorny issue of responsibility when there are accidents involving spacecraft or when objects from space plunge to earth. To settle any claims that might arise, lawyers probably will look to the precedents offered by existing aviation law. They may also turn to even older legal guidelines. The laws of the high seas, for example, call for freedom of navigation even...