Jul 19 1999
From The Space Library
The United Nations opened a conference, scheduled to run through 30 July, on space technology and exploration, the first such conference held in 17 years. The primary goals of the Unispace III conference included 1) adopting the Vienna Declaration, which provided "international guidelines for the use and environmental protection of outer space"; 2) addressing the cleanup of debris in space, including satellites or parts of spacecraft no longer in use, but continuing to orbit; and 3) ensuring the accessibility of information from outer space to all people, regardless of a country's ability to support costly space exploration programs. In his opening remarks, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan "urged the peaceful use of outer space," suggesting the necessity of a legal instrument, such as the Vienna Declaration, to prevent space from "becoming another arena of military confrontation." Because joint development programs between the UN and private industries were necessary to achieve the conference's goals, businesses involved in space technology participated in Unispace for the first time.
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