4.25.2007
OST: 40th ratification anniversary
In 2007, the 50th anniversary of the launch of the space age, we've also been commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty. And today in 1967, the U.S. Senate ratified the OST.
Over on Aviation Week's On Space blog, Frank Morring, Jr. has a good commemorative post in which he poses the question, "Is it time to redraft what has been called 'the Magna Carta of outer space' to reflect new realities, or to reaffirm the views of the original generation of spacefarers...." Always a good question. Of course, lawyers have been debating the treaty non-stop since before it was written. ;)
(Frank doesn't mention this but Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides noted on the Space Generation TALK mailing list that Frank was a page on the Senate floor the day of the treaty ratification. ;)
Other dates of note: the treaty was signed on January 27, 1967 (in Washington, London and Moscow). It was ratified by President Lyndon Johnson May 24, 1967.
And October 10, 2007 is the 40th anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty going into force.
Over on Aviation Week's On Space blog, Frank Morring, Jr. has a good commemorative post in which he poses the question, "Is it time to redraft what has been called 'the Magna Carta of outer space' to reflect new realities, or to reaffirm the views of the original generation of spacefarers...." Always a good question. Of course, lawyers have been debating the treaty non-stop since before it was written. ;)
(Frank doesn't mention this but Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides noted on the Space Generation TALK mailing list that Frank was a page on the Senate floor the day of the treaty ratification. ;)
Other dates of note: the treaty was signed on January 27, 1967 (in Washington, London and Moscow). It was ratified by President Lyndon Johnson May 24, 1967.
And October 10, 2007 is the 40th anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty going into force.
