The Outer Space Treaty

Historical Context Of The Outer Space Treaty

To understand the context in which this treaty came into being, one needs to go back a decade earlier than the signing of this treaty. Exactly ten years before this treaty was signed, i.e in 1957, the launch of Sputnik 1 by USSR marked the dawn of space age. This led to the space race between US and USSR, the then superpowers. The whole world was watching this rivalry spiral out rapidly as both the superpowers didn’t just want their supremacy on earth but in space as well. To cut short, the aim behind space was to become the master of the universe.

“Since both these superpowers were also nuclear powers, it was widely feared that someday there might be a nuclear showdown between them in space in order to prove their supremacy over the other. The space rivalry between US and USSR was not just a race to outdo one another in terms of science, technology and engineering but it became an issue of national honor and prestige for both the nations. That’s why astronauts like Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong were looked upon as national heroes”.

Both the governments appeased their domestic audience by trying to focus their attention on feats achieved in the arena of outer space. Before the outer space treaty, the outer space didn’t come under the ambit of international law and therefore until then there were no restrictions on any country to do anything in outer space. This is simply because nobody could predict earlier that firstly the mankind will reach into space and secondly the possibility of a space race was even dimmer.

Signing Of The Outer Space Treaty

In 1967, when the Outer Space Treaty was signed, the Cold War was in full swing. “Both the US and USSR wanted to prevent the expansion of the nuclear arms race into a completely new territory. And as space technologies became more advanced, there was a concern that Earth orbit and beyond provided a whole new area from which weapons of mass destruction could be launched. That’s why an article in the treaty prohibits countries from putting nuclear weapons in orbit or on other planetary bodies. The treaty was opened for signature at Moscow, London, and Washington on 27 January, 1967. Both the United States and Soviet Union signed the treaty on the same date (i.e. 27th Jan, 1967) as well as ratified the treaty on same date (i.e. 10th Oct, 1967). India signed the treaty in March 1967; however it took nearly fifteen more years for the Indian parliament to ratify it in 1982.

The treaty which has been signed by 107 countries till date came out after a long process of legislation. As discussed earlier, the launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviets had already made news headlines across the world. With the dawn of the space age, The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) was established in 1959 (shortly after the launch of Sputnik) as an ad hoc committee. In 1959, it was formally established by United Nations resolution 1472.

The aim of COPUOS was to govern the exploration and use of space for the benefit of all humanity: for peace, security and development. The Committee was tasked with reviewing international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space, studying space-related activities that could be undertaken by the United Nations, encouraging space research programs, and studying legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space. The committee at its inception had only 18 member countries including both US and USSR. With the passage of time few more countries joined the club and by the year 1961, the committee got divided into two sub-committees. One looked into scientific and technical aspects, while the other looked into legal aspects. This was the same year Yuri Gagarin was sent to space by the Soviets.

Just after Yuri Gagarin became the first man to enter into space, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the ‘Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space.’ It recognized “the common interest of all mankind in the progress of the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes.” The declaration also stated that neither outer space nor celestial bodies should be appropriated by any country.

As per UNOOSA, “The Outer Space Treaty was largely based on the Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, which had been adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 1962 (XVIII) in 1963, but added a few new provisions. Further, the treaty was considered by the Legal Subcommittee in 1966 and agreement was reached in the General Assembly in the same year (resolution 2222 (XXI)). After much deliberations and discussions, the Outer Space Treaty was opened for signatures in 1967”.

Key Points Of Outer Space Treaty

The core idea behind the treaty was to prevent ‘Space Weaponization’ and to this day, no signatory state has violated it by putting any nuclear weapon in the outer space or at the moon. The treaty is one of the most important space legislation in the second half of the 20^th century.

Article 1, which is like the soul of the Outer Space treaty states, “The exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind. Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be free for exploration and use by all States without discrimination of any kind, on a basis of equality and in accordance with international law, and there shall be free access to all areas of celestial bodies. There shall be freedom of scientific investigation in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, and States shall facilitate and encourage international co-operation in such investigation” (Outer Space Treaty, 1967).

“The treaty also calls for peace, harmony and co-operation among states in the arena of outer space as the race for supremacy in outer space could have proved destructive for the whole earth” (Outer Space Treaty, 1967). Only great powers possessed both the will and capability to explore the outer space and in this endeavor they became much more powerful when they started getting success. As is said, with great power comes great responsibility, the idea behind this treaty was to entrust responsibility upon them of using outer space for peaceful purposes. To put it simply, this treaty which is officially known as the “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies”, states that what nations can and can’t do in outer space and also advises what states should and shouldn’t do.

Impact Of The Outer Space Treaty

The treaty has been widely successful as it has been able to achieve its primary goal which is to prevent the weaponization of space. The reason why the treaty still holds the tests of the time is that both US and USSR came together to agree upon the fact that outer space shouldn’t be used as a battle ground against each other.

Though, the agreement between these two superpowers didn’t happen overnight as there were many twists and turns before reaching an agreement. As per the US Department of State Website, “between 1959 and 1962 the Western powers made a series of proposals to bar the use of outer space for military purposes. Their successive plans for general and complete disarmament included provisions to ban the orbiting and stationing in outer space of weapons of mass destruction”.

It further states, “Soviet plans for general and complete disarmament between 1960 and 1962 included provisions for ensuring the peaceful use of outer space. The Soviet Union, however, did not separate outer space from other disarmament issues, nor did it agree to restrict outer space to peaceful uses unless U.S. foreign bases at which short-range and medium-range missiles were stationed were eliminated also. The Western powers declined to accept the Soviet approach; the linkage, they held, would upset the military balance and weaken the security of the West.”.

Though, the Soviet position changed after US signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963. After that, both US and USSR said that had no intention of orbiting weapons of mass destruction, installing them on celestial bodies or stationing them in outer space. Once that happened, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on October 17, 1963, welcoming the Soviet and U.S. statements and calling upon all states to refrain from introducing weapons of mass destruction into outer space. Seeking to sustain the momentum for arms control agreements, the United States in 1965 and 1966 pressed for a Treaty that would give further substance to the U.N. resolution.

The US Department of State finally states that “on June 16, 1966, both the United States and the Soviet Union submitted draft treaties. The U.S. draft dealt only with celestial bodies; the Soviet draft covered the whole outer space environment. The United States accepted the Soviet position on the scope of the Treaty, and by September agreement had been reached in discussions at Geneva on most Treaty provisions. Differences on the few remaining issues -- chiefly involving access to facilities on celestial bodies, reporting on space activities, and the use of military equipment and personnel in space exploration -- were satisfactorily resolved in private consultations during the General Assembly session by December”.

It was after all these twists and turns that Outer Space Treaty came into being. The reason why the treaty was successful was because of one primary reason that both US and USSR agreed to agree with each other on the question of securing the Outer Space for the benefit of mankind. It was because of lengthy discussions and negotiations between these two great powers that once the treaty was opened for signature, there was no need for further negotiations on question of weaponization of space.

The treaty was a product of its time and it came in within a context of space rivalry between US and USSR which had intensified the space race. The Second World War was just two decades older then and the global community and United Nations didn’t want the cold war space rivalry to spiral into an outer space war which could leave a devastating effect on the entire planet, hence the treaty came into picture.

The  author is a Ph D Holder , Defense & Strategic Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.Views are personal.