Russian Demand On Space Shots

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31167, 17 September 1966, Page 15

Russian Demand On Space Shots

(N.Z. Press Association-Copyright)

NEW YORK, September 15

The Soviet union demanded yesterday as a “test of sincerity” that a proposed treaty on space exploration give all States tracking facilities under equal conditions the “New York Times” News Service reported.

Eleven countries immediately objected to the proposal. The Soviet demand would have the effect of obliging the 20 or more States cooperating in tracking United States space ventures to give the same privileges to Moscow.

Immediate objections to the equal-share proposal were made by 11 representatives of the 28-member legal Subcommittee on Outer Space which has been at work on the text since July. A number of delegates saw the stiffened Soviet attitude

as diminishing hopes for early agreement on the treaty. Two Concessions The Soviet move was pressed one day after the United States announced two major concessions in an effort to get Soviet approval for the treaty. The more important of these was abandonment of United States insistence on open access to all space stations and vehicles on the moon or other celestial bodies. Soviet and United States disagreement on this matter of access had been regarded as the major obstacle to completion of the treaty. Platon Morozov, of the Soviet Union, followed up the American concessions with a statement that the tracking provision was the “key” issue in the treaty and said Moscow would insist on its inclusion.