Outer Space Treaty

The Outer Space Treaty, formally the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is the basic framework of international space law. The Legal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space considered it in 1966 and agreement was reached in the General Assembly the same year in resolution 2222 (XXI). The text was largely based on the 1963 Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, but added a few new provisions. It was opened for signature by the three depositary governments, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, in January 1967, and it entered into force in October 1967. Its principles are that outer space is the province of all mankind and free for exploration and use by all States, that it cannot be appropriated by claim of sovereignty, use or occupation, that nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction may not be placed in orbit or on celestial bodies, that the Moon and other celestial bodies are for exclusively peaceful purposes, that astronauts are envoys of mankind, and that States answer for the national space activities of both governmental and non-governmental bodies and are liable for damage caused by their space objects.