# Who owns the moon ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-moon/614076 "2012-02-26T20:01:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-moon/614076/41 "2015-09-25T23:17:44Z")
The moon belongs to everyone; the best things in life are free. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/R1FIjqIoIRU/hqdefault.jpg "THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1FIjqIoIRU) ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-moon/614076/42 "2015-09-25T23:18:00Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I don’t doubt that the Moon will eventually be exploited for minerals. I just think it will happen within a framework of international cooperation. Just like the Arctic… ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-moon/614076/43 "2015-09-26T00:41:36Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Looking at Antartica’s usage may be a good indication. Right now it’s not really wide scale inhabitable and everyone is friendly about using it, but the right conditions, either economic/resource or climate could change that. As demand for real estate goes up things could get a bit nasty. Antarctica is actually an excellent example, as [there is a treaty stating that no one can own it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System), yet [there are various nations staking some claim to it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_claims_in_Antarctica). I’d imagine that once travel to the moon is cheap and easy, we’ll be in a similar situation there. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-moon/614076/44 "2015-09-26T01:02:49Z")
If any one entity owned it, we’d have a Moonopoly. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-moon/614076/45 "2015-09-26T02:23:54Z")
The ‘man’ in the moon does . ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-moon/614076/46 "2015-09-26T13:21:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **kcor1953** : > > I’m glad this thread surfaced– > > What sf short story has a UN functionary, authorized to sell surplus property, accidentally sell the Moon to an alien? > > I’m sure it’s not a Heinlein but the Heinlein stories make this hard to search for. > > I’m reasonably sure it is a story collected in ppb, not a mag story never reprinted. Dang it, I’ve read that one recently, and if I could just remember where I read it, it’d be easy to find. It was definitely in some anthology or another, and it definitely wasn’t Heinlein. The alien only ate mushrooms, and wore some sort of sunscreen that made it look like a dirty bum. I think, though, that it was the entire Earth that was sold, not just the Moon. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-moon/614076/47 "2015-09-30T16:52:48Z")
I don’t know how I resurrected this particular zombie, I think I had meant to post in a more recent thread about space ownership and after a search thought this was it. Anyway, it was all worth it for Atamasama’s reply. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-moon/614076.md?page=2)