We Come in Peace?

The idea of civilian space exploration masking more sinister military intentions has been a key theme from the beginning. The Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967 by both the US and Soviet Union, essentially set out the international rules of space. It didn’t outright ban the militarisation of space, but placed limits, including the restriction of activities on the Moon for peaceful purposes only.

NASA was understandably keen to promote the Apollo programme as a benevolent endeavour. The Apollo 11 mission badge pointedly depicted an eagle with an olive branch in its talons, echoing the engraving on the plaque left behind on the landing module: “We came in peace for all mankind.” That said, it was the national emblem of Stars and Stripes that was driven into the Moon rock.

A decade earlier, lack of cooperation during the height of tensions lost the USSR a major scientific first. Had it shared data during the Sputnik II mission, it could have claimed the discovery of the ‘Van Allen’ radiation belt, a feat later claimed by the Americans.

Recent eyars have seen greater cooperation, but distrust lingers on. Cyber warfare is one of today’s big concerns, which Kendrick Oliver notes is “deeply connected to the development of defence-related spacebased technologies in the 1960s and 1970s.”

What’s more, the current president has expressed his desire to put astronauts back on the Moon within the next five years. The Russian response was to question the point of “repeat[ing] a 50-year-old achievement”, suggesting such ventures are often “just a

cover-up” for military activities.