Dec 13: The Declaration on International
Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer
Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of All States,
Taking into Particular Accounts the Needs of
Developing Countries
Jun 3: Kennedy and Khrushchev discuss the idea of whether
they should go to moon together (in later talks Khrushchev
would be more willing to discuss cooperation, but he would
back out when there was no agreement on mutual
disarmament)
Jan 26: Chinese Lang March Rocket carrying the Hughes-built
(American company) Apstar-1explodes. Investigation leads to
technology-transfer allegations against China by the US—
banning launches of American-built satellites on Chinese
rockets
Jan 27: “Outer Space
Treaty” signed; Treaty on
Principles Governing the
Activities of States in the
Exploration and Use of
Outer Space, including the
Moon and Other Celestial
Bodies
Jan 2: Russia launches Luna 12 (misses
moon). First artificial object to leave Earth’s
orbit
Mar: Vladimir Chelomei gets the
authorization for the Istrebitel
Sputnik (lit. ‘fighter satellite’)antisatellite weapons program
Jul 1: Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons
signed
Oct 12: Sputnik
Eisenhower
launches
Vanguard as
response
Apr: Nikita
Khrushchev
holds a
meeting to
discuss an array
of defense
industry issues.
Vladimir
Chelomei gets
the go ahead to
develop the
UR-200 rocket
Oct 1:
NASA
formed
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
Aug 8: Treaty banning
Nuclear Weapon Tests in,
outer space, the
atmosphere and under
water
1963
Nov 26:
France
launches its
first satellite
independently
Apr 12: Yuri
Gargarin is first
person in space
July 28:
USSR
launches
Cosmos 7
(its first
successful
spy satellite
Jan 31:
Explorer I
Jul 29:
International
Atomic
Energy
Agency
established
Oct 7: US
Announces NASA
manned space flight
program and
formation of space
task force
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
Oct 13: The Bold Orion missile (Weapons System 199B) test launches from B-57. It is successful in the
sense that it successful intercepted the path of the Explorer 6 satellite, passing the satellite at a range of
less than 4 miles (had the missile system been equipped with a nuclear warhead, the satellite would
have been destroyed)
1978
1979
1980
1982
Feb 22: Navstar 1
(first GPS satellite)
launched
Oct 28: UK launches
its first satellite,
Prospero, into orbit
1983
1985
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1994
Mar 12:
Nuclear
and Space
Talks (NST)
begin in
Geneva
Jul 1: Istrebitel
Sputnik is
expanded to
attack at higher
altitudes
May 31: European
Space Agency
formed
Apr 22: Agreement on the
Rescue of Astronauts, the
Return of Astronauts and
the Return of Objects
Launched into Outer
Space
Nov:
SALT II
talks
begin
Dec 17: Memorandum of
Agreement on Liability for
Satellite Launches (US-China)
Dec: KH-11 is launched.
First US spy satellite to
utilize electro-optical digital
imaging, meaning it could
record event in real-time
Jul 18: India launches Rohini 1
satellite (becoming the seventh
nation capable of sending objects
into space by itself)
Jun 25: Salyut 3 (announced as
OPS-2 [part of the Almaz Orbital
Piloted Stations) launches. It was
equipped with a modified
onboard aircraft cannon. The
Salyut 3 would conduct a
successful remote test fire.
May 24: Nixon and Premier Aleksei Kosygin sign Agreement Concerning
Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful
Purposes
1995
1996
1998
1999
Jun 30: Interim Agreement
for the Conduct of Activities
leading to Russian
partnership in the detailed
design, development,
operation, and utilization of
the permanently manned
civil space station
May 13: START signed
Dec 14: The
Principles
Relevant to the
Use of Nuclear
Power Sources in
Outer Space
Sept 27: 350 Republican candidates for
Congress support “Contract with America”
which includes a call for a deployment of an
anti-ballistic missile defense system and a
more limited theatre defense system
Apr 15: Agreement Concerning Cooperation in the
Exploration and use of Outer Space or Peaceful
Purposes
Oct-Dec: China launches 16
navigation satellites for
Beidou
Oct 13: US
Senate refuses
to ratify the UN
Nuclear Test
Ban Treat
2000
2001
2002
Jan 20: UN General
Assembly Resolution—
the “Prevention of an
Arms Race in Outer
Space” (PAROS) (CD)
Apr 7: China
launches the
Asiasat-1
Communications
satellite (first
commercial
contract)
Aug 31: Bush administration
releases a new National Space
Policy rejecting the Arms Control
Agreement and ability to deny
access to space to anyone
opposed to US interests. It also
claims to still be against weapons
in space.
Dec 13: Bush
notifies Russia
of the US’s
withdrawal of
the AMB Treaty
(6 months in
advance)
Feb 7: Milistar
launches (first
secure
communications
satellite)
Sep 19: Israel
launches its
first satellite,
Ofeq 1
Mar 23:
Reagan
announces
SDI
Aug 9: ESA
launches its first
satellite, Cos-B
Nov 1: first test for R-7 rockets( UR200 would be abandoned due to
delays in favor of UR-2)
Aug 11: Discover 13 (first satellite successful in
recovering film
1976
Feb 11: Japan launches its test satellite, Oshumi,
into orbit
May 25: JFK announces before Congress that an American
shall land on the moon by the end of the decade
Mar 27: Yuri
Andropov (USSR
General Secretary)
essentially calls SDI
insane
Jan 31:
Agreement on
Cooperation in
Science and
Technology (USAChina)
Jul 20: Apollo
11 lands on
the moon
Dec 10: announcement of
the MOL (Manned Orbital
Laboratory). It was
actually to be a manned
reconnaissance station. It
would never reach past
development and was
cancelled in 1969
Oct 14:
Cuban Missile
Crisis begins
Feb 28:
Discover I
(first spy
satellitecannot
recover
film)
1969
May: Russian object
known as 2014-28E is
launched without
announcement or
registration
Sep 28: Space X
becomes the first
privately funded
liquid fueled rocket
to reach orbit
Feb 9: H.W. Bush claims
that he shall ‘vigorously
pursue’ SDI
Jun 29: START proposed
May 26: AntiBallistics
Missiles Treaty
signed
1968
Jan 11: China destroys its own
weather satellite with an AntiSatellite Missile. China does not
comment for two weeks after the
incident. The Actions were
condemned by both Russia and the
US
Jan 29: H.W. Bush announces revamped SDI—
Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS)
It would consist of the “Brilliant Pebbles” defense
system. (KE ASAT)
Apr 19: USA
helps launch
India’s first
satellite,
Aryabhata
Mar 29: Convention on
International Liability
for Damage Caused by
Space Objects
1967
Jun 28: Replacement of 2006 National Space Policy. Will consider preventing an
arms race in space, continue the inherent right to self-defense of any and all space
systems by attacking the threat and contribute to the defense of allied space
systems. Now “The United States will consider proposals and concepts for arms
control measures if they are equitable, effectively verifiable, and enhance the
national security of the United States and it allies.”
Oct 30-Dec20: Beidou Navigation
Test systems are launched
Nov 17: SALT I talks
begin
1965
Feb 20: “Operation Burnt Frost”
destroys a malfunctioning US
spy satellite
Dec 3: UN GA Resolution for PAROS passes 178-0-4. This time
recognizing that the “legal regime applicable to outer space does
not in and of itself guarantee the prevention of an arms race in
outer space, that the regime plays a significant role in the
prevention of an arms race.”
Sep 13: ASM-135 ASAT is
successfully tested from F-15 Eagle.
It destroys the Solwind P78-1
satellite, it is the first and only
successful interception
Feb: Istrebitel Sputnik
declared operational
Sept 29: Canada’s
Alouette 1 launches
aboard NASA rocket
(first satellite from a
country other than
US or USSR)
1962
Dec 18: “The Moon Agreement”; Agreement Governing
the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial
Bodies
Jul 17: Apollo-Soyuz Test
Project (joint space venture
between US and USSR)
Apr 24: PRC launches its first satellite,
Dong Fang Hong-1
May 5:
Alan
Shepard
becomes
first
American
in space
Nov 3: Clinton rejects SDI in
favor of the development of a
defense system within the strict
framework of the ABM Treaty,
proposing a Theatre Missile
Defense (TMD) to protect troops
from short and medium range
missiles
Jan 14: Convention on the Registration of
Objects Launched into Outer Space
Dec 13: The
Declaration of Legal
Principles Governing
the Activities of States
in the Exploration and
Uses of Outer Space
Aug 7: Explorer 6
(first photos of
earth from space)
Sep 18: The EU proposes the development of a comprehensive code of conduct on objects and activities
related to space. Adding general principles, scope and participation for such a code. Attached to the
Secretary General’s report on “Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures in Outer Space Activities
July: The ‘Rumsfeld Commission,’ based upon the assessment of
the Commission to Asses to Ballistic Missile Threat to the US (Jul
15),” judges that North Korea and Iran shall be capable of
striking the US with nuclear weapons within 5 years
Feb 9: China demonstrates
its support for the
Prevention of an Arms Race
in Space (PAROS) proposes
ideas on new international
legal instruments to prevent
the weaponization of space
(Conference on
Disarmament [CD])
2003
2004
2005
2006
2008
2007
May 22: Russia and China
present a working,
collaborative paper to the
CD suggesting different
types of confidencebuilding measures
relating to space
(exchange of information,
demonstrations,
notifications,
consultations, and
thematic workshops)
Dec 8: UN GA
Resolution for
PAROS passes 1740-4
Dec 8: UN GA resolution for Transparency and ConfidenceBuilding Measure in Outer Space Activities passes 178-1-1 (US
objected and Israel abstained). Proposed by Russia and
Supported by China.
Jun 28: The delegations of China, Russia, Vietnam, Indonesia,
Belarus, Zimbabwe, and Syria present the working paper “Possible
Elements for a Future International Legal Agreement on the
Prevention of the Deployment of Weapons in Outer Space, that
Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects “ (PPWT)
2009
2010
2011
2012
2014
Oct: Galileo satellite
systems become
operational (full
operability expected
by 2020)
Jan 8: NASA and Russian
Space Agencies commit
to the ISS until 2024,
after which Russia has
plans to dethatch its
modules and develop its
own outpost in lowearth orbit
Feb 11: A deactivated Russian Satellite
collides with a US commercial
communications satellite. STRATCOM
launches Space Situational Awareness
Program
Jun 15: UN
Committee on
the Peaceful Use
of Outer Space
adopts space
debris mitigation
guidelines
Aug 26: US issues concerns with the PPWT’s
vagueness (notably in not mentioning any
provision on preventing ground to space
weapons among)
Dec 17: UN GA adopts resolution called “Recommendations on enhancing the practice of States and international
intergovernmental organizations in registering space object”. Which recalled the “Treaty on Principles Governing the
Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies” (January
1967) and “Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space” (December 1961).
Oct 14:
Agreement on
cooperation in the
exploration and
use of outer space
for peaceful
purposes
Article IV States Parties to the Treaty undertake not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects
carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on
celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner.
The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for
peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of
any type of weapons and the conduct of military maneuvers on celestial bodies shall be forbidden. The
use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be
prohibited. The use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the Moon and
other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.