{"id":3036,"date":"2016-08-05T17:38:40","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T17:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intergalacticbar.org\/?p=3036"},"modified":"2021-10-05T17:40:39","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T17:40:39","slug":"the-problem-of-jurisdiction-in-outer-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intergalacticbar.org\/2016\/08\/05\/the-problem-of-jurisdiction-in-outer-space\/","title":{"rendered":"The Problem of Jurisdiction in Outer Space"},"content":{"rendered":"
Mankind has been exploring outer space since the late 1950s, which is to say about 60 years at the time of this writing. The Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite,\u00a0Sputnik I<\/a>, into orbit on October 4, 1957. Shortly thereafter, Russian cosmonaut\u00a0Yuri Gagarin<\/a>\u00a0because the first human to travel into space on April 12, 1961. Not to be outpaced by the Soviet Union, the United States launched the\u00a0Apollo 11<\/a>\u00a0mission and, on July 20, 1969, successfully landed American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon. These remarkable accomplishments were all carried out by and at the direction of terrestrial governments.<\/p>\n Despite the significant length of time that humans that have been launching themselves beyond earth’s stratosphere, the international legal framework for space exploration and exploitation that was adopted in the 1960s has not changed very significantly. The\u00a0Outer Space Treaty<\/a>, also 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,” was signed in Washington, Moscow, and London on January 27, 1967. Its greatest flaw is\u00a0glaringly apparent<\/a>, namely that it fails to address how crimes should be prosecuted against individuals or how private legal disputes will be settled in space. The underlying assumption of the Outer Space Treaty seems to be that activities in outer space will be primarily carried out by or at the direction of government entities. This assumption is becoming more baseless with every passing day. The captains of the space industry are\u00a0advancing their progress<\/a>\u00a0toward the realization of private, profitable commercial activity in space at a meteoric rate. Unfortunately, the world’s governments are all but ignoring this inevitability.<\/p>\n