Outer Limits?

By a vote of 88 to 0, the U.S. Senate last week approved a "Treaty of Outer Space" that in effect would ban war beyond the limits of the earth's atmosphere. The treaty specifies that "the exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind." It demands "cooperation and mutual assistance" in space missions--including the swift return of downed astronauts--and totally precludes the use of nuclear weaponry in space.

Signatories to the U.S.-initiated pact are required to give a year's notice before they may renounce the treaty and take their own steps toward interplanetary self-defense. Already there are hints that the two major space powers--the U.S. and Russia--are concerned enough about one another's good faith to take advantage of that one-year option if any military ascendancy could be gained on the other side by new space technology.

It took 28 nations to draw up the treaty over five months in New York City and Geneva; though 80 countries have already approved it informally, the treaty will not-become fully effective until it is ceremonially ratified by the heads of state in the U.S., Russia, Great Britain and any other two nations. With the Senate hurdle past, the White House at week's end was trying to gauge the timing of Soviet and British ratification so that the President can coordinate his own ratification ceremony with theirs. All that the pact omits is the possibility of future signatories from outer space.

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