Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies

    The exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and
other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all
countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall
be the province of all mankind.

    Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies,
shall be free for exploration and use by all States without discrimination of any kind, on
a basis of equality and in accordance with international law, and there shall be free
access to all areas of celestial bodies.

    There shall be freedom of scientific investigation in outer
space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, and States shall facilitate and
encourage international co-operation in such investigation.

    Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is
not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or
occupation, or by any other means.

    States Parties to the Treaty shall carry on activities in the
exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, in
accordance with international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, in the
interest of maintaining international peace and security and promoting international
co-operation and understanding.

    States Parties to the Treaty undertake not to place in orbit
around the earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of
mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in
outer space in any other manner.

    The moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States
Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military
bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the
conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden. The use of military
personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be
prohibited. The use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the
moon and other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.

    States Parties to the Treaty shall regard astronauts as envoys
of mankind in outer space and shall render to them all possible assistance in the event of
accident, distress, or emergency landing on the territory of another State Party or on the
high seas. When astronauts make such a landing, they shall be safely and promptly returned
to the State of registry of their space vehicle.

    In carrying on activities in outer space and on celestial
bodies, the astronauts of one State Party shall render all possible assistance to the
astronauts of other States Parties.

    States Parties to the Treaty shall immediately inform the other
States Parties to the Treaty or the Secretary-General of the United Nations of any
phenomena they discover in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies,
which could constitute a danger to the life or health of astronauts.

    States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international
responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the moon and other
celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by
non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in
conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty. The activities of
non-governmental entities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies,
shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to
the Treaty. When activities are carried on in outer space, including the moon and other
celestial bodies, by an international organization, responsibility for compliance with
this Treaty shall be borne both by the international organization and by the States
Parties to the Treaty participating in such organization.

    Each State Party to the Treaty that launches or procures the
launching of an object into outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies,
and each State Party from whose territory or facility an object is launched, is
internationally liable for damage to another State Party to the Treaty or to its natural
or juridical persons by such object or its component parts on the Earth, in air or in
outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies.

    A State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object
launched into outer space is carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such
object, and over any personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body.
Ownership of objects launched into outer space, including objects landed or constructed on
a celestial body, and of their component parts, is not affected by their presence in outer
space or on a celestial body or by their return to the Earth. Such objects or component
parts found beyond the limits of the State Party to the Treaty on whose registry they are
carried shall be returned to that State Party, which shall, upon request, furnish
identifying data prior to their return.

    In the exploration and use of outer space, including the moon
and other celestial bodies, States Parties to the Treaty shall be guided by the principle
of co-operation and mutual assistance and shall conduct all their activities in outer
space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, with due regard to the corresponding
interests of all other States Parties to the Treaty. States Parties to the Treaty shall
pursue studies of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, and conduct
exploration of them so as to avoid their harmful contamination and also adverse changes in
the environment of the Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter
and, where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose. If a State Party
to the Treaty has reason to believe that an activity or experiment planned by it or its
nationals in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, would cause
potentially harmful interference with activities of other States Parties in the peaceful
exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, it
shall undertake appropriate international consultations before proceeding with any such
activity or experiment. A State Party to the Treaty which has reason to believe that an
activity or experiment planned by another State Party in outer space, including the moon
and other celestial bodies, would cause potentially harmful interference with activities
in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial
bodies, may request consultation concerning the activity or experiment.

    In order to promote international co-operation in the
exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, in
conformity with the purposes of this Treaty, the States Parties to the Treaty shall
consider on a basis of equality any requests by other States Parties to the Treaty to be
afforded an opportunity to observe the flight of space objects launched by those States.
The nature of such an opportunity for observation and the conditions under which it could
be afforded shall be determined by agreement between the States concerned.

    In order to promote international co-operation in the peaceful
exploration and use of outer space, States Parties to the Treaty conducting activities in
outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, agree to inform the
Secretary-General of the United Nations as well as the public and the international
scientific community, to the greatest extent feasible and practicable, of the nature,
conduct, locations and results of such activities. On receiving the said information, the
Secretary-General of the United Nations should be prepared to disseminate it immediately
and effectively.

    All stations, installations, equipment and space vehicles on
the moon and other celestial bodies shall be open to representatives of other States
Parties to the Treaty on a basis of reciprocity. Such representatives shall give
reasonable advance notice of a projected visit, in order that appropriate consultations
may be held and that maximum precautions may betaken to assure safety and to avoid
interference with normal operations in the facility to be visited.

    The provisions of this Treaty shall apply to the activities of
States Parties to the Treaty in the exploration and use of outer space, including the moon
and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by a single State Party
to the Treaty or jointly with other States, including cases where they are carried on
within the framework of international intergovernmental organizations.

    Any practical questions arising in connection with activities
carried on by international intergovernmental organizations in the exploration and use of
outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be resolved by the
States Parties to the Treaty either with the appropriate international organization or
with one or more States members of that international organization, which are Parties to
this Treaty.

    Any State Party to the Treaty may propose amendments to this
Treaty. Amendments shall enter into force for each State Party to the Treaty accepting the
amendments upon their acceptance by a majority of the States Parties to the Treaty and
thereafter for each remaining State Party to the Treaty on the date of acceptance by it.

    Any State Party to the Treaty may give notice of its withdrawal
from the Treaty one year after its entry into force by written notification to the
Depositary Governments. Such withdrawal shall take effect one year from the date of
receipt of this notification.

    This Treaty, of which the English, Russian, French, Spanish and
Chinese texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Depositary
Governments. Duly certified copies of this Treaty shall be transmitted by the Depositary
Governments to the Governments of the signatory and acceding States.

    IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, duly authorized, have
signed this Treaty.

DONE in triplicate, at the cities of London, Moscow and Washington, the twenty-seventh
day of January, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven.