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Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law


The Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law (14 C.F.R. 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations) was the popular name for regulations adopted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1969 to formalize its "policy, responsibility and authority to guard the Earth against any harmful contamination … resulting from personnel, spacecraft and other property returning to the Earth after landing on or coming within the atmospheric envelope of a celestial body." Implemented before the Apollo 11 mission, it provided the legal authority for a quarantine period for the returning astronauts. The regulation defined "extraterrestrially exposed" as

Quarantining of astronauts on the first lunar missions was mandated in 1969 to prepare for "the remote possibility that they are harboring unknown lunar organisms that might endanger life on earth", and the Apollo 11 voyagers were kept in quarantine for 21 days after their return from the moon.

NASA filed notices establishing quarantine periods in the Federal Register for Apollo 11,Apollo 12,Apollo 13, and Apollo 14. After the completion of the Apollo 14 mission, NASA stopped enforcing the regulation, though it remained on the books. On April 30, 1971, NASA's acting administrator, Dr. George M. Low, was quoted as saying,

NASA revoked the rule in 1977 and the rule was formally removed from the Code of Federal Regulations in 1991.


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