A first edition copy of "Legal Problems of Space Exploration, A Symposium" (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1961), boldly signed by Apollo XI mission astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. (born 1930), as "Buzz Aldrin" on the front cover. The Senate report was "Prepared for the Use of the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, United States Senate, by the Legislative Reference Service and The Library of Congress" and printed after March 22, 1961. The softcover book with green wrappers runs 1392pp. Expected wear to the covers and text block, including scuffs, wrinkles, and isolated blackened edges. The inner pages are clean and crisp, else near fine. 6.125" x 9.125" x 2.5."

In 1958, the Senate Special Committee on Space and Aeronautics published a report called "Space Law" in response to the substantial progress being made in both the Soviet and American space programs. In 1961, Lyndon B. Johnson--then Vice President, Senate President, and Chairman of the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences--requested the compilation of this new and expanded edition, "Legal Problems of Space." Cold War-era space exploration was complicated; any space firsts carried implications affecting law, national sovereignty, foreign relations, and security. This report investigates such questions as "National Sovereignty at high altitudes"; "Surveillance from orbit"; "Space law and the fourth dimension of our age"; and "Legal problems of flight into the outer space." An entire section of about 300 pages of the report explores space law in relation to "Communist viewpoints" -- a frank admission of the elephant in the room: the Soviet/American Space Race.

Just one month after this report was published, on April 12, 1961, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel in space aboard the Vostok I. Less than three weeks later, on May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard conducted the first American suborbital flight of the Mercury program. Less than ten years later, on July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first humans to step upon the moon during the July 16-July 24, 1969 Apollo XI mission.

To whom does the moon belong? To the first people who travel nearest it, photograph it, stand upon it, or place a national flag or plaque there? To no one, or everyone? The U.S. Senate wanted to establish guidelines attempting to answer questions like these in order to anticipate the potential consequences of space exploration.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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