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Article: Opposing weapons in space: coordinating the various voices of opposition will be the only wag to block US plans to weaponize space.
- Article from:
- Ploughshares Monitor
- Article date:
- September 22, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Project Ploughshares. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Throughout the winter of 1958, American President Dwight Eisenhower engaged in an exchange with Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin, debating the future of outer space. Their discussion followed the October 1957 launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik and the ensuing public uproar over outer space. Both the US and USSR had nuclear weapons and were developing ballistic missiles which would carry weapons through space.
At this critical juncture, the beginning of the space race, President Eisenhower argued:
I propose that we agree that outer space should be used only for peaceful purposes. We face a decisive moment in history in relation to ...