Elon Musk and the IMAGINATION FAILURE OF OUR IN SPACE - PART 3
In fact, the young woman had a valid legal point. Under the terms of Article II of the U.N.’s Outer Space Treaty, from 1967, to which the U.S. is an original signatory, the moon and other celestial bodies, such as asteroids, are “not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation.” Permanent ownership claims to an asteroid, whether by a company or a bunch of college space nerds, are unlawful—some might even say rapacious. So, yes, there are a few rights associated with that barren rock. The asteroid anecdote inadvertently highlights a contradiction in the astropreneurs’ approach that Davenport mostly glosses over: while the space barons are happy to take large amounts of government funding, they’re quick to complain when the government attempts any oversight of their endeavors. SpaceX’s first Falcon 1 rocket was partly funded by the government and launched from a government facility. When the first launch attempt ended in an explosion, in 2006,
