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POSITION PAPER 

U.N. CO~~ITTEE ON THE PEACEFUL 

USES OF OUTER SPACE 

LEGAL SUBCOMIvlITTEE 

DEFINITION OF OUTER SPACE 

BACKGROUND 

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GENEVA 

19 June 1967 

By its resolution cbmmending the Outer Space Treaty, 

the General Assembly requested the Committee on the 

Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to continue to work on the 

agreements on liability and assistance and return and "To 

begin at the same time the study of questions relative to 

the definition of outer space ... " (resolution 2222 (XXI), 

adopted 19 December 1966.) In the April 17-19 meeting of 

the Com..'11ittee, there appeared to be general agreement that 

this study should be the primary responsibility of the 

Legal Subcommittee, although the Scientific Subcorrmittee 

IJli,ght be asked to contribute. The Legal Subcommittee will 

begin 19 June. 

POSITION 

1. The U. S. Delegation should place the study in 

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perspectiye ~y recalling the conclusion of the 1959 Ad Hoc 

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Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Ourer Space that the 

determination of precise limits for airspace and onter 

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space was not a problem requiring priority attention. Two 

years later, on December 4, 1961, Adlai Stevenson said to 

the General Assembly's Political Committee that: 

liThe members of the [First] Committee [of 

the General Assembly] will note that we have 

not attempted to define where (luter space begins. 

In our judgment it is premature to do this now. 

The attempt to dr~w a boundary between air space 

and outer space must await further experience and 

a consensus among the nations. 

"Fortunately the value of the.principles 

of freedom of space and celestial bodies does 

not depend on the drawing of a boundary line .... " 

2. In his te~timony on the Outer Space Treaty before 

the Foreign Relations Committee on March 7 this year, 

Secretary Rusk said in answer to a question that "an object 

in orbit is in outer space." The Secretary also indicated 

. skepticism as to the existence of practical problems whose 

resolution depends upon the establishment of an internationally 

agreed airspace/outer space boundary. Our gener&i approach 

is to avoid creating abstract rules and instead to work out 

problems as they arise or can be foreseen. 

3. We are interested in learning what propos~ls for 

the conduct of the study France may make, and ~ow this study 

relates to the study of "the utilization of outer space and 

celestial bodies, including the various implications of space 

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communications." On 17 April French Ambassador Seydoux 

told the Outer Space Committee that "Nothing indicates, 

of course, that this study will not eventually show that 

the limits of the application between the law of the air 

and the law of space cannot be based on a single definition, 

but may perhaps involve various definitions which would be 

adjusted to the various activities." 

4. The Delegation should indicate our views as .~ 

reflected in paragraph 2 above. The Delegation may state 

that we anticipate the flight of supersonic aircraft at 

levels approaching 90,000 feet within the next five years. 

The United States intends to exercise traffic control over 

aircraft at these levels as they approach and overfly U.S. 

territory. We think other countries will wish to do likewise. 

5. Advancing technology can be expected to raise the 

levels at which aircraft can fly. Also, lower satellite 

perigees might at some point become possible. Up to now 

the lowest perigees have been in the vicinity of 80 miles. 

Moreover, during launch and re-entry, of course, spacecraft ... 

pass through lower altitudes, including what is clearly 

airspace. In addition there is the possibility bf hybrid 

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craft, operating both as aircraft at some altitudes and 

as spacecraft at others. Should such craft ever pose 

problems of control, we will have to deal with them. 

6. The Delegation may suggest that the Scientific and 

Technical Subcommittee be associated with the study. It 

could be asked to provide a projection of probable altitudes 

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of aircraft during the next 5 to 10 years, and what may 

reasonably be foreseen as to altitudes of satellite perigees 

in that period. If questions should arise as to current 

launch and re-entry trajectories both as to manned and 

u"manned spacecraft, they should be referred to the Scientific 

and Technical Subcommittee. 

7. We think much more work and experience are required 

before anyone could undertake to draw any boundaries or 

- frame any definitions. Indeed it is not clear now that the 

drawing of boundaries or ttc framing of definitions will 

ever be a practicable or desirable way of proceeding in the 

development of space law. We should point ~ut the disadvantages of premature attempts at drawing lines. 

8. We would expect the Soviet position to be conditioned .... 

by the fact that the U.S.S.R. is 3 principal space power. 

However, while ~is fact may make the Soviets as unwilling 

as we to fix the balance of national interests with regard 

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to any boundaries, the Soviets,with their large land 

mass and lack of neighbors to the north, may have greater 

flexibility than the U.S. in avoiding re-entry overflights of 

other nations. This might conceivably lead the S6viets to 

favor extending the upper limit of air space or, even if 

they do share our concern, lead them to force the U.S. to 

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bear alone the burden of opposing a restrictive definition J 

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of outer space. The Delegation should consult infonnally 

with the Soviet Delegation, without giving an impression of 

undue concern, and report their views. 

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