Media Contact: 
Michael Sweeney
Michael.Sweeney@fcc.gov

For Immediate Release

SIMINGTON CONDEMNS RUSSIAN WEAPON TEST

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 16, 2021—Today, Commissioner Nathan Simington at the Federal Communications Commission released the following statement:

“Space is a global resource, the common property of all of mankind.  Everyone in the world has equal rights, now and forever, to benefit from the peaceful and cooperative use of space.

“Beginning in 1958 with SCORE and 1962 with Telstar 1, American government and private enterprise pioneered the peaceful use of space communications and space science for the benefit of all, blazing a trail for today’s international space economy and essential space services.  This proud heritage is the foundation for the present dramatic proliferation of peaceful, productive space technologies. Even just in the past few years, satellite operators and launch companies have made tremendous strides when it comes to the commercial use of space, with innovative American firms in the forefront.  I could not be prouder, more excited, or more supportive of their efforts.

“We stand at the dawn of a spacefaring civilization, and we have as yet only dipped a toe into the ink-black waters of outer space.  Who knows what we may achieve in the coming decades and centuries?  Where we may go?  What we may do?

“But we do know at least one thing: orbital debris fields pose an existential threat to these great hopes for the future.  They make the work of using space complicated and difficult.  For decades to come, they stifle scientific research, inhibit communications, and pose threats to the lives of explorers. And in the here and now, they pose a great threat to the in-mission satellites of all nations, deployed for such benevolent purposes as weather warnings, navigation, remote education, astronomy, and agriculture.

“No one owns space.  And no one should intentionally make it more difficult to use.  I join my colleagues across the whole of the U.S. government in condemning the irresponsible, debris-generating destruction of a satellite by Russia.” 

###

Office of Commissioner Simington / @SimingtonFCC / www.fcc.gov/leadership/nathan-simington

This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.  See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).