The Province and Heritage of Humankind: Space Law’s Imaginary of Outer Space, 1967–79

Abstract

This chapter offers a close reading of the negotiations surrounding the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and the Moon Agreement of 1979, focusing on the competing normative and political rationales that informed the former’s success and the latter’s perceived failure. In particular the chapter argues that uncovering the broader meaning and purpose of the Moon Agreement – and to some extent the Space Age – involves probing the ideological and material divide between developed and developing nations over the role distributive justice and equity could play in space exploration.