The Great Gnome Press Science Fiction Odyssey

Legal Aspects of Space Travel

Man had no even reached space yet, but we were already thinking about the legal issues that it might present.  Chief among these issues was exactly how far out into space does a nation have sovereign authority?  And can anyone claim the moon?  I’m not sure to what extent these questions have been resolved today, but even back then it was considered important enough for the Deputy Director of the United Nations Legal Department to be writing about.  This all brings to mind Robert A. Heinlein’s wonderful collection The Man Who Sold the Moon.

The next installment in a couple of weeks, famed space writer Willy Ley looks at the possibility of Life Beyond Earth.

This entry was posted on June 27, 2009 at 10:34 pm and is filed under 07 - Legal Aspects of Space Travel, 1953, The Complete Book of Outer Space with tags Jeffrey Logan, The Complete Book of Outer Space. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.