Buying Land on the Moon

[Adam Y.]

As I recall, when our American astronauts landed on the moon, they left a U.S. flag there. That used to mean that a country was claiming the land; symbolically, it seems to me to imply the same thing these days, too. So is someone telling me the U.S. doesn't own the moon? Who says? Who does the U.N. think it is, anyway, and whoever does what it says? And who gave the U.N. authority to do anything?

Actually it's a treaty and a treaty implies that all the countries actcually agreed to this. Also, buying land on the moons is just as valid as claiming the sun and charging everyone for sunlight. Of course someone has actually done this. Not to mention he isn't even the first crackpot that claimed he owned the moon.

Pop further contends that Dennis Hope's quest, which began in 1980, came too late. "A lunar claim was lodged in Chile back in 1953," Pop says, "and a Declaration of Lunar Ownership was issued by the city of Geneva, Ohio, back in 1966."

Elsewhere in the FAQ, and on the printed deed a customer receives, Lunar Embassy employs the word "novel" to describe its products. The word was suggest by lawyers 24 years ago, according to the FAQ, to "help avoid any frivolous lawsuits from a foreign country."

(The words "novel" and "novelty" are employed by star-naming businesses as a way to avoid the impression that their sales involve official products.)

Space article