8.4 The Outer Space Treaties

1. The Outer Space Treaty 1967 (the constitution): the exploration-and-use's freedom for all-mankind's benefit (Art I); the non-appropriation — no national-claim-by-sovereignty-use- occupation-or-other-means (Art II); the peaceful purposes-and-the WMD ban (Art III-IV: the orbit-station-and-celestial WMD exclusion; the Moon-and-bodies' exclusive-peaceful use); the state's responsibility for national activities — the governmental-and-non-governmental (Art VI: the private acts' state-answerability + the authorisation-and-supervision); the liability's-and-registration's cross-references (VII-VIII: the launching state's liability; the registry state's jurisdiction-and-control over the object-and-personnel); the astronauts as the envoys-of-mankind (V: the all-possible-assistance duty); the non-contamination (IX) and the bases'-facilities openness. 2. The Rescue Agreement 1968 (the astronauts-and-objects' convention): the accident- distress-landing's notification-and-assistance duties; the astronauts' safe-and-prompt return (the space-SAR's codification); the space objects' recovery-and-return to the launching state (the registry's practical child). 3. The Liability Convention 1972 (the damage's regime): the absolute liability for the damage caused by the space object on the Earth's surface (or to the aircraft in flight — the innocent-victim's protection); the fault-based liability for the damage elsewhere (space-to- space: the negligence's proof); the launching state's identity (the joint-launches' several- liability faces); the claims' procedure: the diplomatic-channel route (the state's claim for its nationals), the Claims Commission (the binding-award faces — the one historic use: the Cosmos 954 case (1978 — the USSR's satellite's radioactive debris over Canada: the diplomacy-settled claim, the absolute-liability's applied lesson)); the no-individual-standing note…