The Astronaut's Legal Status

• Author: Yuri Baturin
• Position: Doctor of Law, Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Sciences, Pilot-cosmonaut of Russia, Chief researcher, S.I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology of RAS
• Pages: 4-13

Advanced Space Law, Volume 5, 2020

4

The Astronaut’s Legal Status

Yuri Baturin1

Doctor of Law, Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Sciences,

Pilot-cosmonaut of Russia, Chief researcher,

S.I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology of RAS

(Moscow, Russia)

E-mail: baturin@ihst.ru

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1481-5369

Baturin, Yuri (2020) The Astronaut’s Legal Status. Advanced Space Law, Volume 5, 4-13.

https://doi.org/10.29202/asl/2020/5/1

The article proposes to dene the concept of “astronaut” through the four elements — specialty

“astronaut,” astronaut’s qualication, profession “astronaut” and “astronaut” as the occupation. In

this case, it is possible to dene the concept of “astronaut” through the labor function of the astronaut.

The legal status of an astronaut is considered as a generalization of practical activities in the eld of

manned astronautics. On the basis of spaceights experience, additional rules concerning the rights and

duties of the astronauts are proposed. A signicant list of problems of the astronaut’s legal status, which

are still pending, is given. It is also proposed to introduce an international component into the astronaut’s

legal status, and not only to use the full range of rights and privileges of astronauts, which are provided

for by international law, but also to empower the cosmonaut with the authority of a state representative

at a foreign or international manned space object.

Keywords: astronaut, astronaut’s labor function, professional activities of an astronaut, astronaut’s

rights and obligations, astronaut’s legal status, contract for undertaking of a space mission, space law.

Received: March 01, 2020; accepted: April 07, 2020

Introduction

Now that the International Space Station is up and running and multilateral cooperation has

become the norm, we sometimes forget how long and hard was the road to smooth cooperation

in this strategic area aecting the interests of many countries. People have been ying to outer

space for almost 60 years now, or, more accurately, their states have been sending them to do

some work. The only nations capable of doing that independently are the USSR/Russia, the

United States, and China. However, reaching an agreement between the spacefaring nations

on joint space legal documents today proved almost as challenging as putting a man into orbit.

© Baturin, Yuri, 2020