Article V of the Outer Space Treaty

A register of what 129 states answer when they are asked, in writing, who Article V protects.

Article V, Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, 1967: “States Parties to the Treaty shall regard astronauts as envoys of mankind in outer space.”

On 2 September 2026 the same question went to 129 diplomatic missions in Ottawa: does Article V apply to every person who goes into space, whatever their citizenship or immigration status, or only to nationals of the launching state? Every mission was asked for the position of its state in writing by 15 October 2026.

Private operators carry people into space under commercial contract, outside any national programme, and some of those people hold the citizenship of no launching state. The text says envoys of mankind. It does not say nationals. On one reading the obligation follows the person regardless of passport. On the other, a stateless passenger is owed nothing by the state that licensed the launch.

Deadline for a written position: 15 October 2026. Delivery confirmed for all 129 messages; none was returned undelivered.

The first position on the record

Austria, 4 September 2026, in writing, through its Embassy in Ottawa:

“Article V seems not expressly limit the term ‘astronauts’ to nationals of the Launching State. […] Accordingly, Article V seems not be based on the nationality of the persons concerned, but on whether they fall within the concept of ‘astronauts’ as used in the Treaty.”

Austria adds that the Treaty does not define the term, that legal scholarship distinguishes professional astronauts from “spaceflight participants” travelling for private or commercial leisure purposes, and that the phrase “envoys of mankind” confers no diplomatic or other special legal status. On the question put to it, the state answers that the test is not nationality.

On 9 September 2026 three questions went back to Austria. The letter states that the Treaty does not define the term, and then that its application may be regarded as settled; an undefined term cannot produce a settled application, so Austria is asked to name the state practice, decision or United Nations document that settles it. If no such source exists, Austria is asked whether the meaning of “astronaut” belongs before the Legal Subcommittee, whose Secretariat sits in Vienna. And since a treaty is read so that its terms are given effect, Austria is asked which legal effect the first sentence of Article V does produce, if “envoys of mankind” produces none. The same deadline applies: 15 October 2026.

The second request

On 26 September 2026 the 126 states that had not stated a position were asked a second time. Each received the Austrian position quoted above, with the direction to confirm whether it shares that reading or to state the reading it holds instead. The deadline is unchanged: 15 October 2026. None of the 126 messages was returned undelivered.

On 9 October 2026 the Embassy of Switzerland answered the second request without a position. It wrote that the question should go to the Embassy of Austria and copied that embassy. The question put to Switzerland was the reading Switzerland holds; Austria had already stated its own. Switzerland remains on the register as a state with no position. The deadline is unchanged: 15 October 2026.

Last updated 1 October 2026.

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