Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Statement by the President on the Need for a Treaty Governing Exploration of Celestial Bodies.

May 07, 1966

JUST AS the United States is striving to help achieve peace on earth, we want to do what we can to insure that explorations of the moon and other celestial bodies will be for peaceful purposes only. We want to be sure that our astronauts and those of other nations can freely conduct scientific investigations of the moon. We want the results of these activities to be available for all mankind.

We want to take action now to attain these goals. In my view, we need a treaty laying down rules and procedures for the exploration of celestial bodies. The essential elements of such a treaty would be as follows:

The moon and other celestial bodies should be free for exploration and use by all countries. No country should be permitted to advance a claim of sovereignty.

There should be freedom of scientific investigation, and all countries should cooperate in scientific activities relating to celestial bodies.

Studies should be made to avoid harmful contamination. Astronauts of one country should give any necessary help to astronauts of another country.

No country should be permitted to station weapons of mass destruction on a celestial body. Weapons tests and military maneuvers should be forbidden.

I am convinced that we should do what we can--not only for our generation, but for future generations--to see to it that serious political conflicts do not arise as a result of space activities. I believe that the time is ripe for action. We should not lose time.

I am asking Ambassador Goldberg, in New York, to seek early discussions of such a treaty in the appropriate United Nations body.

Note: The statement was read by Deputy Press Secretary Robert Fleming at his news conference at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 7, 1966, at San Antonio, Texas, for release at 5:30 p.m. It was not made public in the form of a White House press release.

Agreement by the United States with other nation members of the U.N. Outer Space Committee on a draft treaty to govern space exploration was announced by the President on December 8, 1966. See Item 643.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Need for a Treaty Governing Exploration of Celestial Bodies. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239147

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