Last October, the Phoenix chapter of the NSS and Tucson L5 Space Society (TL5SS) gathered to hear the space law event organized by TL5SS Vice President Ron Nickel. Their guest, Dr. Edythe E. Weeks, serves as adjunct faculty at Washington University, Webster University, and Northern Arizona University and teaches courses on a wide variety of subjects within the discipline of political science and international relations. Weeks is also a Fulbright Specialist in international relations and space law, having completed two projects—one in Siberia in 2015 and another in Mexico in 2016. She was elected into the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) in 2004. Her presentation provided a historical view of space law and insights about the politics behind the legal regime governing space development.
Weeks explained that negotiations on the wording of the outer space treaties began in 1957, shortly after the U.S.S.R.’s launch of Sputnik 1, and continued until 1966. She further noted that the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) was created in 1958 to advise governments on space law, the U.N. Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) was formed in 1959, and the IISL was founded in 1960. Through COPUOS, a number of nations created five U.N. declarations and five treaties: the Outer Space Treaty (1967), the Rescue and Return Agreement (1968), the Liability Convention (1973), the Registration Convention (1976), and the Moon Treaty (1979), which provide the basic agreed upon rules covering outer space activities.