Who Owns the Moon?

Pedro_P

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NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969.
Credit: NASA
▼ Most likely, this is the best-known picture of a flag ever taken: Buzz Aldrin standing next to the first U.S. flag planted on the Moon. For those who knew their world history, it also rang some alarm bells. Only less than a century ago, back on Earth, planting a national flag in another part of the world still amounted to claiming that territory for the fatherland. Did the Stars and Stripes on the moon signify the establishment of an American colony?
When people hear for the first time that I am a lawyer practicing and teaching something called "space law," the question they ask most frequently, often with a big smile or a twinkle in the eye, is: "So tell me, who owns the moon?"
Of course, claiming new national territories had been very much a European habit, applied to non-European parts of the world. In particular the Portuguese, the Spanish, the Dutch, the French and the English created huge colonial empires. But while their attitude was very Europe-centric, the legal notion that planting a flag was an act of establishing sovereignty quickly stuck and became accepted worldwide as part and parcel of the law of nations.
Obviously, the astronauts had more important things on their mind than contemplating the legal meaning and consequences of that planted flag, but luckily the issue had been taken care of prior to the mission. Since the beginning of the space race the United States knew that for many people around the world the sight of a U.S. flag on the Moon would raise major political issues. Any suggestion that the moon might become, legally speaking, part of U.S. backwaters might fuel such concerns, and possibly give rise to international disputes harmful to both the U.S. space program and U.S. interests as a whole.
By 1969, decolonization may have destroyed any notion that non-European parts of the world, though populated, were not civilized and thus justifiably made subject to European sovereignty — however, there was not a single person living on the moon; even life itself was absent.
Still, the simple answer to the question of whether Armstrong and Aldrin by way of their small ceremony did transform the moon, or at least a major part thereof, into U.S. territory turns out to be "no." They, nor NASA, nor the U.S. government intended the U.S. flag to have that effect.
The first outer space treaty
Most importantly, that answer was enshrined in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, to which both the United States and the Soviet Union as well as all other space-faring nations, had become a party. Both superpowers agreed that "colonization" on Earth had been responsible for tremendous human suffering and many armed conflicts that had raged over the last centuries. They were determined not to repeat that mistake of the old European colonial powers when it came to decide on the legal status of the moon; at least the possibility of a "land grab" in outer space giving rise to another world war was to be avoided. By that token, the moon became something of a "global commons" legally accessible to all countries — two years prior to the first actual manned moon landing.
So, the U.S. flag was not a manifestation of claiming sovereignty, but of honoring the U.S. taxpayers and engineers who made Armstrong, Aldrin, and third astronaut Michael Collins' mission possible. The two men carried a plaque that they "came in peace for all mankind," and of course Neil's famous words echoed the same sentiment: his " small step for man" was not a "giant leap" for the United States, but "for mankind." Furthermore, the United States and NASA lived up to their commitment by sharing the moon rocks and other samples of soil from the lunar surface with the rest of the world, whether by giving them away to foreign governments or by allowing scientists from all over the globe to access them for scientific analysis and discussion. In the midst of the Cold War, this even included scientists from the Soviet Union.
Case closed, no need for space lawyers anymore then? No need for me to prepare University of Nebraska-Lincoln's space law students for further discussions and disputes on the lunar law, right?
No space lawyers needed? (▪ ▪ ▪)

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soothsayer

Now this really becomes annoying.We are back to the days of colonies.Now What? The Americans will say the moon is their colony. But so long as they push all their wars and interventions outside our world- will that really make the Earth a better place?

Pedro_P

If the Moon were to become property of some country, that establishes colonies there, the same independence processes that occurred on earth will very likely occur. The lunar colonists will try to obtain their freedom and to establish their own autonomous and independent States and Governments.
Except, that at some time in the future, an alien species higher and more advanced than the human, claim for itself the rights and property of the earth and its satellite.... After which, humanity will have received a spoonful of its own medicine.
What must be regulated is the economic exploitation of the Moon and the asteroids. Surely the UN will create some tax.
I think I will not be alive for when those problems become a reality...

themaskeditor

Well setting up colonies and using moon for resources will take time of maybe 100+ years.

It is really sad to see humanity fighting for resources and power. Technically nobody owns the moon.

A few years back there was this funny news of people in america selling plots on mars and moon.

asr335704

Well, Scientifically Moon is another planet like Earth. Since life is absent there, technically no one owns Moon.
In the future, when science makes enough progress and earth is not able to serve mankind's resources requirements, then it may be an entire different story.

ajayjohri

I think, Pink Floyd have been owing it since 1973  ;)

soothsayer

Pedro_P 19-7-2019 12:26 PM
If the Moon were to become property of some country, that establishes colonies there, the same indep ...

Rhett_Bassard

ajayjohri 19-7-2019 04:53 AM
I think, Pink Floyd have been owing it since 1973  ;)

Pink Floyd only has claim on the Dark Side of the Moon

Regarding the bright side, I forget the owner's name, but they are creepy...

Jbnast

I am sure if vast quantities of minerals were found then it could result in a free for all over who owns the moon.