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| | Two Russians and one American - all smiles and exuding confidence galore - prepared for their first mission in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. This breaks a 30 year tradition that at least one crew member with prior experience pilots the spacecraft. The Soyuz spacecraft actually are guided by an autopilot as they approach the space station and during the docking process. However, the crew is trained to operate the craft manually should there be some sort of computer failure or other problem.
Space property rights: Some energetic entrepreneurs suggested naming any star, selected by you and also promising to provide the “document, certifying the amendment of records in the catalogue of celestial bodies”. Naturally, the sense of solidity and legality is lent to all this. For example, it is said that the catalogue of celestial bodies was registered as a database, protected by copyright. Actually, neither the copyright nor trade marks have anything to do with the naming of stars.
Traditionally, the naming of celestial bodies is taken care of by the non-governmental scientific organization - International Astronomical Union (IAU). It recorded the conventional borders and names of constellations and also approved the historically prevalent names for some bright stars. This list is confidential and can be amended only under a special resolution of an IAU assembly. So, the names of stars like the names of chemical elements, is a question of world-wide scientific consensus and any commercial gains to influence it do not exist.
Certainly, any person (or organization) can have a personal star catalogue by incorporating any records and names in it. But as soon as the discussion is about taking payment for similar services, pseudo-scientific discussion transforms into a legal plane. In particular, the lawmaker understands the acquisition of another’s property “through deceit or abuse of confidence” as fraud. The swindler can put the victim in a fix by distorting the facts and knowingly communicating the false information (active deceit) as well as by keeping silent on circumstances, known to him (passive deceit).
For instance, if the buyer of a lunar site is told that he acquires as much right to property, and thus expressly states that, the Outer Space Treaty in 1967 allegedly did not prevent such a deal, then it is an active fraud. If you are offered to name a star for money, creating the formality of a conducted act during the process of the deal, and thus "tactfully" keep silent about the real legal sense of a "catalog of celestial bodies", where the name is to be recorded and who actually recognizes the naming of space objects in the world, then, in this case, it is passive fraud.
These activities will be lawful only when exhaustive and clear information is given to the buyers that, the buyer is acquiring a comic memento and nothing more. However, this condition is incompatible with the desire to attract more customers.
The legal aspects of space exploration are far from confined to the issues discussed. There are many unresolved issues that need to fill gaps and concretize the norms of international space law. The more urgent issue is the contamination of near-Earth space with debris and the legal frameworks to combat it. Much is unclear about the possible commercial use of the natural resources of celestial bodies, for example, in connection with the extraction projects of helium-3 on the moon. The issue about the appropriateness of establishing a connection with hypothetically extraterrestrial civilizations is periodically debated: some politicians believe that, they may pose a threat to Earth and must be placed under UN control.
However, today many of these issues seem even more speculative than the prospect of space tourism in 1960. What is clear is that these prospects will become more specific and the need to improve international space law will be strengthened.
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