Compared to the student riots and political assassinations of 1968, the United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space that year caused relatively little stir. Back then, of course, only two nations were in any position to explore or use outer space. It was easy for the rest of the world to pay lip service to the ideal that the space resources were the heritage of all humankind. Fifty years on, though, things are changing.

This June the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs will be holding a fiftieth anniversary meeting, UNISPACE+50.