The 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits the placement of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in outer space, prohibits military activities in celestial bodies, and details legally binding rules governing the peaceful exploration and use of space. Between 1959 and 1962, Western powers made a series of proposals to ban the use of outer space for military purposes. His successive plans for general and complete disarmament included provisions to prohibit the orbit and deployment in outer space of weapons of mass destruction. Addressing the General Assembly on September 22, 1960, President Eisenhower proposed that the principles of the Antarctic Treaty apply to outer space and celestial bodies.
In 1967, when the Outer Space Treaty was signed, the Cold War was in full swing. Both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to prevent the expansion of the nuclear arms race to a completely new territory. And as space technologies advanced, there was concern that Earth orbit and beyond would provide a completely new area from which weapons of mass destruction could be launched. That is why an article of the treaty prohibits countries from placing nuclear weapons in orbit or on other planetary bodies.
The agreement was a further step towards limiting nuclear weapons. In 1959, dozens of nations, including the United States and the Soviet Union, agreed to ban nuclear weapons in Antarctica. In July 1963, the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed, which bans nuclear testing in the open air and under. With the measures adopted in May 1967, outer space was also officially declared a ban on nuclear weapons.
Differences over the few outstanding issues, mainly related to access to facilities in celestial bodies, reporting on space activities and the use of military equipment and personnel in space exploration, were successfully resolved in private consultations during the period session of the General Assembly in December. During a session of the General Assembly in December 1966, several proposals for an arms control treaty regulating outer space were discussed, culminating in the drafting and adoption of the Outer Space Treaty the following January. It was an agreement approved by the United Nations called the Outer Space Treaty, and 104 nations have become parties to the document since it was signed and promulgated in 1967. The Soviet Union, however, would not separate outer space from other disarmament issues, nor would it agree to restrict outer space to peaceful uses unless U. The OST also declares that space is an area of free use and exploration by all and that it will be the province of all humanity.
In June 1966, the United States and the Soviet Union submitted draft treaties on the use of space to the United Nations. Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty deals with international responsibility and provides that the activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require the authorization and continuous supervision of the State Party concerned to the Treaty and that States The Party shall assume international responsibility for national space activities, whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities. Created when space travel was in its infancy, the agreement was intended to address issues that could arise as space technology progressed. On the contrary, scientists didn't know if there was extraterrestrial life on the Moon or elsewhere, and they didn't want to risk space agencies bringing back a deadly space microbe that had never been seen before.
The Outer Space Treaty does not specify the ways in which countries should prevent this cross-contamination. The Legal Subcommittee considered the Outer Space Treaty in 1966 and agreement was reached in the same year in the General Assembly (resolution 2222 (XXI)). This international treaty is officially called the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (October 10, 1967, 18 pt. This treaty, which forms the basis of international space law throughout 17 articles, has impacted current and future space exploration.
Although it prohibits the establishment of military bases, testing weapons and performing military maneuvers on celestial bodies, the treaty does not expressly prohibit all military activities in space, nor the establishment of military space forces or the placement of conventional weapons in space. . .
