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The Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space, also referred to as the Rescue Agreement is an international agreement setting forth rights and obligations of states concerning the rescue of persons in space. The Agreement was created by a 19 December 1967 consensus vote in the
Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (Full Text)
{{Politics of outer space Space treaties Treaties concluded in 1967 Treaties entered into force in 1968 Treaties adopted by United Nations General Assembly resolutions Treaties of Antigua and Barbuda Treaties of Argentina Treaties of Australia Treaties of Austria Treaties of the Bahamas Treaties of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Treaties of Barbados Treaties of Belgium Treaties of Bosnia and Herzegovina Treaties of Botswana Treaties of the military dictatorship in Brazil Treaties of the People's Republic of Bulgaria Treaties of Cameroon Treaties of Canada Treaties of Chile Treaties of the People's Republic of China Treaties of Cuba Treaties of Cyprus Treaties of the Czech Republic Treaties of Czechoslovakia Treaties of Denmark Treaties of Ecuador Treaties of Egypt Treaties of El Salvador Treaties of Fiji Treaties of Finland Treaties of France Treaties of Gabon Treaties of the Gambia Treaties of Georgia (country) Treaties of West Germany Treaties of East Germany Treaties of the Kingdom of Greece Treaties of Guinea-Bissau Treaties of Guyana Treaties of the Hungarian People's Republic Treaties of Iceland Treaties of India Treaties of Indonesia Treaties of Pahlavi Iran Treaties of Ba'athist Iraq Treaties of Ireland Treaties of Israel Treaties of Italy Treaties of Japan Treaties of Kazakhstan Treaties of Kuwait Treaties of the Kingdom of Laos Treaties of Lebanon Treaties of Madagascar Treaties of the Maldives Treaties of Mauritius Treaties of Mexico Treaties of the Mongolian People's Republic Treaties of Montenegro Treaties of Morocco Treaties of Nepal Treaties of the Netherlands Treaties of New Zealand Treaties of Niger Treaties of Nigeria Treaties of Norway Treaties of Pakistan Treaties of Papua New Guinea Treaties of Peru Treaties of the Polish People's Republic Treaties of the Estado Novo (Portugal) Treaties of Qatar Treaties of South Korea Treaties of the Socialist Republic of Romania Treaties of the Soviet Union Treaties of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Treaties of San Marino Treaties of Serbia and Montenegro Treaties of Seychelles Treaties of Singapore Treaties of Slovakia Treaties of Slovenia Treaties of South Africa Treaties of Francoist Spain Treaties of Sri Lanka Treaties of Eswatini Treaties of Sweden Treaties of Switzerland Treaties of Syria Treaties of Thailand Treaties of Tonga Treaties of Tunisia Treaties of Turkey Treaties of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Treaties of the United Kingdom Treaties of the United States Treaties of Uruguay Treaties of Yugoslavia Treaties of Zambia Treaties extended to Aruba Treaties extended to the Netherlands Antilles Treaties extended to Anguilla Treaties extended to the Faroe Islands Treaties extended to Greenland Treaties extended to Bermuda Treaties extended to the British Virgin Islands Treaties extended to the Cayman Islands Treaties extended to the Falkland Islands Treaties extended to Gibraltar Treaties extended to Montserrat Treaties extended to the Pitcairn Islands Treaties extended to Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Treaties extended to South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Treaties extended to the Turks and Caicos Islands
The Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space, also referred to as the Rescue Agreement is an international agreement setting forth rights and obligations of states concerning the rescue of persons in space. The Agreement was created by a 19 December 1967 consensus vote in the United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
(Resolution 2345 (XXII)). It came into force on 3 December 1968. Its provisions elaborate on the rescue provisions in Article V of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty
russian: link=yes, Договор о космосе es, link=yes, Tratado sobre el espacio ultraterrestre
, long_name = Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moo ...
. Despite containing more specificity and detail than the rescue provision in Article V of the Outer Space Treaty, the Rescue Agreement still suffers from vague drafting and the possibility of differing interpretation.
History
TheUN General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
adopted the text of the Rescue Agreement on 19 December 1967 through Resolution 2345 (XXII). The Agreement opened for signature on 22 April 1968, and it entered into force on 3 December 1968. As of January 2022, 98 States have ratified the Rescue Agreement, 23 have signed, and three international intergovernmental organizations (the European Space Agency
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...
, the Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites
The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is an intergovernmental organisation created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States.
EUMETSAT's prima ...
) have declared their acceptance of the rights and obligations conferred by the agreement.
Basic provisions
The Rescue Agreement requires that any state party that becomes aware that the personnel of a spacecraft are in distress must notify the launching authority and the Secretary General of the United Nations. The Rescue Agreement essentially provides that any state that is a party to the agreement must provide all possible assistance to rescue the personnel of a spacecraft who have landed within that state's territory, whether because of an accident, distress, emergency, or unintended landing. If the distress occurs in an area that is beyond the territory of any nation, then any state party that is in a position to do so shall, if necessary, extend assistance in the search and rescue operation.Key changes since the Outer Space Treaty
Parties entitled to be rescued
The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 states simply thatastronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
s are to be rendered all possible assistance by state parties to the treaty. The Outer Space Treaty does not provide a definition for the term "astronaut", and as a result it is unclear whether this provision applies to, for example, a space tourist—a person who clearly has not received the training of a traditional astronaut.
The Rescue Agreement adds some clarity to the issue by referring to the "personnel of a spacecraft" rather than "astronauts". However, this phrase again leaves uncertain whether someone simply along for the ride—such as a tourist on a Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and his British Virgin Group retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The compan ...
flight—would be considered part of the "personnel of a spacecraft".
Compensation for recovery of a space object
In the event that a space object or its parts land in the territory of another state party, the state where the object lands is required (upon the request of the launching authority) to recover the space object and return it to the launching authority. The Rescue Agreement provides that the launching state must then compensate the state for the costs incurred in recovering and returning the space object.Rescue in space
At the time the treaty was drafted, the prospect of rescuing travelers in space was unlikely, due to the limited launch capabilities of even the most advanced space programs, but it has since become more plausible. For example,Mir
''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...
and later the International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...
have each maintained docked Russian Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz () is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s, having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau (now Energia). The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecr ...
to be used as an escape mechanism in the event of an in-orbit emergency; in certain scenarios this vessel might also be able to assist in a rescue.
A significant shift in attitudes toward in-orbit rescues came as a result of the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster, after which NASA took steps to prepare the STS-3xx
Space Shuttle missions designated STS-3xx (officially called Launch On Need (LON) missions) were rescue missions which would have been mounted to rescue the crew of a Space Shuttle if their vehicle was damaged and deemed unable to make a succes ...
or ''Launch on Need'' missions to provide for rescue in certain scenarios. However, this capability was never exercised during the remainder of the Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...
program.
Criticism
The Rescue Agreement has been criticised for being vague, especially regarding the definition of who is entitled to be rescued and the definition of what constitutes a spacecraft and its component parts. The cost burden of a rescue mission is also not addressed in the agreement. The Rescue Agreement does provide that the launching state must bear the costs for the recovery of a craft that crashes into another state's territory. However, the agreement makes no mention of the cost of the rescue of astronauts.References
External links
Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (Full Text)
{{Politics of outer space Space treaties Treaties concluded in 1967 Treaties entered into force in 1968 Treaties adopted by United Nations General Assembly resolutions Treaties of Antigua and Barbuda Treaties of Argentina Treaties of Australia Treaties of Austria Treaties of the Bahamas Treaties of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Treaties of Barbados Treaties of Belgium Treaties of Bosnia and Herzegovina Treaties of Botswana Treaties of the military dictatorship in Brazil Treaties of the People's Republic of Bulgaria Treaties of Cameroon Treaties of Canada Treaties of Chile Treaties of the People's Republic of China Treaties of Cuba Treaties of Cyprus Treaties of the Czech Republic Treaties of Czechoslovakia Treaties of Denmark Treaties of Ecuador Treaties of Egypt Treaties of El Salvador Treaties of Fiji Treaties of Finland Treaties of France Treaties of Gabon Treaties of the Gambia Treaties of Georgia (country) Treaties of West Germany Treaties of East Germany Treaties of the Kingdom of Greece Treaties of Guinea-Bissau Treaties of Guyana Treaties of the Hungarian People's Republic Treaties of Iceland Treaties of India Treaties of Indonesia Treaties of Pahlavi Iran Treaties of Ba'athist Iraq Treaties of Ireland Treaties of Israel Treaties of Italy Treaties of Japan Treaties of Kazakhstan Treaties of Kuwait Treaties of the Kingdom of Laos Treaties of Lebanon Treaties of Madagascar Treaties of the Maldives Treaties of Mauritius Treaties of Mexico Treaties of the Mongolian People's Republic Treaties of Montenegro Treaties of Morocco Treaties of Nepal Treaties of the Netherlands Treaties of New Zealand Treaties of Niger Treaties of Nigeria Treaties of Norway Treaties of Pakistan Treaties of Papua New Guinea Treaties of Peru Treaties of the Polish People's Republic Treaties of the Estado Novo (Portugal) Treaties of Qatar Treaties of South Korea Treaties of the Socialist Republic of Romania Treaties of the Soviet Union Treaties of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Treaties of San Marino Treaties of Serbia and Montenegro Treaties of Seychelles Treaties of Singapore Treaties of Slovakia Treaties of Slovenia Treaties of South Africa Treaties of Francoist Spain Treaties of Sri Lanka Treaties of Eswatini Treaties of Sweden Treaties of Switzerland Treaties of Syria Treaties of Thailand Treaties of Tonga Treaties of Tunisia Treaties of Turkey Treaties of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Treaties of the United Kingdom Treaties of the United States Treaties of Uruguay Treaties of Yugoslavia Treaties of Zambia Treaties extended to Aruba Treaties extended to the Netherlands Antilles Treaties extended to Anguilla Treaties extended to the Faroe Islands Treaties extended to Greenland Treaties extended to Bermuda Treaties extended to the British Virgin Islands Treaties extended to the Cayman Islands Treaties extended to the Falkland Islands Treaties extended to Gibraltar Treaties extended to Montserrat Treaties extended to the Pitcairn Islands Treaties extended to Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Treaties extended to South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Treaties extended to the Turks and Caicos Islands