Today in History: The Outer Space Treaty

On this day (January 27) in 1967 The Outer Space Treaty was signed by the United States, The United Kingdom and The Soviet Union. This treaty forms the foundation of current international space law. It specifically precludes any nation from claiming sovereignty over the moon or any other celestial body and it also forbids the placing of weapons of mass destruction in space and the use of the moon or celestial bodies for military maneuvers, fortifications or the testing of weapons. The treaty went into effect on October 10, 1967 and currently has 107 countries who are parties to the treaty with 23 more who have signed the treaty but not completed the ratification process. The clear purpose of the treaty is to keep the wars of earth from spreading into the solar system. Thus we get the inscription on the plaque left on the moon by the astronauts of Apollo 11; “Here men of the planet Earth first set foot on the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”