US says, 'we own space.'

The Bush Administration's National Space Policy makes it pretty clear that, at least from a weapons deployment standpoint, Space belongs to the United States.

"Consistent with this policy, the United States will preserve its rights, capabilities and freedom of action in space … and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests."


In other words, analysts say, don't expect the United States to sign any new treaties that try to keep weapons from being launched.


"Star Wars"-type programs, while hotly debated by policy wonks, have mostly been far-off notions. Most Americans have heard about Defense Department experiments with exotic weapons, but it's hardly been a front-burner issue.


Craig Eisendrath, a former State Department official who worked on the first treaty to keep space free of military activity in 1967, says things are changing.


"We're going to be testing weapons toward the end of this year," he says. "Deployment will follow. It's not that far away."

This raises an interesting question - who does own space? Typically, for a resource or property with no clear owner, the person who first lay claim and develop or use the resource owns it. But space is a pretty big place, yes?

I'm also wondering why we have a National Space Policy, but then, they regulate how much water I use when I flush.