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 a United States administrative regulation promulgated in 1969 to prevent the spread of biological contamination from space. Implemented before the Apollo 11 mission, it provided the legal authority for a quarantine period for the returning astronauts. [Adam Freedman, "The Party of the First Part: The Curious World of Legalese", p214 (MacMillan, 2007)] The regulation included a definition of exposure as "the state of condition of any person, property, animal or other form of life or matter whatever, who or which has touched directly or come within the atmospheric envelope or any other celestial body or touched directly or been in close proximity (or exposed indirectly to) any person, property, animal or other form of life or matter who or which has been extraterrestrially exposed by virtue of paragraph (b)(1) of this section". [Id. at 215]

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", ["Guard Against the Unknown", "TIME Magazine", Jul. 25, 1969 [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901104,00.html] ] and the Apollo 11 voyagers were kept in quarantine for 21 days after their return from the moon. 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, "On the basis of this analysis [of quarantine information from Apollo 14] , as well as the results from the Apollo 11 and 12 flights, we have concluded there is no hazard to man, animals or plants in the lunar material... the interagency committee has recommended that further lunar missions need not be subject to quarantine" ["NASA Ends Lunar Quarantine", "Albuquerque Journal", April 30, 1971, pB-6]

The rule was formally removed from the Code of Federal Regulations in 1991. [ [http://www.snopes.com/legal/et.asp snope on the Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law] ]

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