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The 1970s

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1970

Japan (11 February) and China (24 April) launch their first satellites

Articles

A. DUPAS
“Asia in Space: The awakening of China and Japan
Space Policy, Volume 4, Issue 1, February 1988, pp. 31-40.

Useful links

BeijingReview on China’s first satellite

JAXA website on Japan’s first satellite

1971

The establishment of the United Nation Programme on Space Applications, the launch of the first USSR Salyut Station (19 April-11 October), the launch of United Kingdom’s first satellite (28 October) and the establishment of INTERSPUTNIK (15 November)

Documents
Mandate of the Programme on Space Applications
Useful links
INTERSPUTNIK website
INTERSPUTNIK Holding website
UN Programme on Space Applications (OOSA website)

1972

The Liability Convention

Documents
Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects

1973

The launch of Skylab (14 May 1973 – 11 July 1979)

Useful links

NASA website on Skylab

1975

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (15-24 July), the merger of ESRO and ELDO into ESA and the Registration Convention.

Documents

Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space

Draft Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space
Journal of Space Law, Volume 1, 1973.

National Security Decision Memorandum 70 (10 July 1970)

ESA Convention

Books

“Twenty Years of the ESA Convention”
Proceedings of an International Symposium, Munich, Germany, 4-6 September 1995
ESA SP-387, 1995.
E. C. EZELL, L. N. EZELL
“The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project”
NASA SP-4209, Washington DC, 1978.
W. FROEHLICH
“Apollo Soyuz”
NASA EP-109, Washington DC, 1976.
J. KRIGE, A. RUSSO
“A History of the European Space Agency: 1958-1987. Volume II: The Story of ESA, 1973 to 1987”
ESA Publication Division, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 2000.
A. L. LEBEDEV, A. P. ROMANOV
“Rendezvous in Space: Soyuz Apollo”
Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1979.
C. M. LEE (eds.)
“Apollo Soyuz Mission Report”
Univelt, San Diego, CA, 1976.
C. REDMOND
“NASA History Website
“The Flight of Apollo Soyuz”
Useful links
ESA History website
NASA History Division on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
Online Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space (OOSA website)

1976

The first landing of a spaceship on Mars (20 July) and the establishment of INMARSAT (3 September)

Documents

Documents of the International Conference on the Establishment of an International Maritime Satellite System
Journal of Space Law, Volume 4, n. 2, Fall 1976, pp. 135-164.

Articles

S. E. DOYLE
“INMARSAT: The International Maritime Satellite
Organization-Origins and Structure”
Journal of Space Law, Volume 5, Numbers 1-2, Spring and Fall 1977, pp. 45-64.

Useful links

NASA website on Viking mission to Mars

1977

Establishment of EUTELSAT and the launch of the Voyager twin space probes to explore the solar system (5 September)

Documents

Convention Establishing the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization EUTELSAT

Books

A. J. BUTRICA
“Voyager: The Gran Tour of Big Science”
In P. E. MACK (ed.) “From Engineering Science to Big Science”, cap. 10
NASA Hisory website

S. COURTEIX
“EUTELSAT: Europe’s Satellite Telecommunications”
5 Michigan Yearbook of International Legal Studies 85, 1984.
Useful Links

EUTELSAT website on the history of EUTELSAT

1978

The crash of USSR’s Cosmos 954 satellite on Canada (24 January) and the launch of the first satellite of the GPS system (22 February)

Documents

Settlement of Claim between Canada and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for Damage Caused by "Cosmos 954" (2 April 1981)
Books
“Astronautics and Aeronautics”, 1978: A Chronology”
NASA History Series, NASA History Office, Washington, 1986.

Useful links
List of Reported Space Objects Discovered by Member States within their Territories (OOSA website)

1979

The Moon Agreement, the establishment of the Conference on Disarmamentand the launch of the first European rocket (Ariane 1, 24 December)

Documents

Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies

Draft Treaty Relating to the Moon
Journal of Space Law, Volume 1, 1973.

Books

W. HUON
"Ariane, une épopée européenne"
ETAI, 2007.

Useful links

BBC on this day: 24 December 1979

Conference on Disarmament – United Nations Office at Geneva (CD-UNOG)

ESA History website

ESA Launchers website

IISL-ECSL Symposium 2009 on the 30th anniversary of the Moon Agreement- Programme

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