Commercial lunar activity is accelerating faster than the United States’ regulatory framework can accommodate. The Astrobotic Peregrine mission exposed a regulatory gap that is no longer theoretical: the United States currently lacks an adequate mechanism for authorization and continuing supervision of nongovernmental lunar activities, as required by Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty (OST). Human and animal cremated remains, sports drink advertising materials, and other undisclosed payloads were permitted to fly on a NASA-affiliated, commercial mission, without any federal agency empowered to evaluate their environmental, cultural, or legal implications. Grounded in treaty doctrine, International Court of Justice jurisprudence, the international law of self-determination, Indigenous cultural rights, planetary protection principles, and emerging norms of lunar environmental stewardship, this article argues that the United States risks failing to satisfy its international obligations under the OST. It then proposes solutions, including a comprehensive U.S. mission-authorization framework, consisting of explicit statutory supervisory authority, coordinated interagency oversight, robust payload governance, formal mechanisms for Indigenous and cultural consultation, and protections for environmentally and culturally significant lunar sites. As commercial lunar activity expands, the regulatory choices made by the United States will shape not only its compliance with international law but also the norms that other spacefaring nations may adopt. This article argues that effective authorization and continuing supervision are essential to preserving the Moon as a shared environment beyond national jurisdiction.
Air and Space Law