Posted on 12/12/2006 8:05:39 PM PST by KevinDavis
In 1967, at the height of the Cold War, the Outer Space Treaty was signed by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom, laying much of the groundwork for modern space law. Perhaps its most important provision is Article 2, which states, “Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.”
Two years later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin raised the American flag on the surface of the Moon. However, mindful of the treaty that it had recently signed, the United States stressed that the flag raising was purely symbolic and did not imply any form of American sovereignty over the Moon.
Today, the Moon, Mars, and all the other bodies in the Solar System exist is a sort of legal limbo. All nations are free to send scientific expeditions to any destination in the Solar System (if they can), but declaring sovereignty over them is strictly prohibited. Unlike the European voyagers of the Age of Exploration, modern explorers cannot claim new lands for king and country.
(Excerpt) Read more at thespacereview.com ...
Time to get out of that treaty. Very soon China will be able to get at least to the moon, we've got to get bases on there, any asteroids we want, and Mars within the next 50-75 years while they're still catching up.
Great plan, we could turn the whole agency over to the UN. After all, theyve been so successful at working with land redistribution and border disputes so far...
The Treaty will be repealed when a gigantic Corporation wants it repealed, not before. Until then we can amuse ourselves by pretending that Space Tourism is Space Development.
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