The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) was established in 1958 (shortly after the launch of Sputnik) as an ad hoc committee. In 1959 it was formally established by United Nations resolution 1472 (XIV). 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sputnik 1 The Sputnik program was a series of unmanned space missions launched by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s to demonstrate the viability of artificial satellites. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A United Nations resolution (or UN resolution) is a decision of a United Nations (UN) bodies. ...

The mission of COPUOS is "to review the scope of international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space, to devise programmes in this field to be undertaken under United Nations auspices, to encourage continued research and the dissemination of information on outer space matters, and to study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space." Layers of Atmosphere - not to scale (NOAA) Outer space, also called just space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the Universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. ... United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Space exploration is the physical exploration of outer space objects and generally anything that involves the technologies, science, and politics regarding space endeavors. ...

The Committee has two subcommittees, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee (LSC).

Member nations

Member nations as of 2004 are: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Hungary, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Vietnam. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent...

External links

• Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on the website of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, which serves as the secretariat for the COPUOS
• Press Release: Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Concludes 48th Session in Vienna, from June 20, 2005
• United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative (UNBSSI) "In celebration of the International Heliophysical Year (IHY 2007)"