Abstract
For decades, outer space was a specific place of international cooperation, understanding and compromise. The elaboration and adoption of the five UN space treaties in the era of the Cold War was presented by international lawyers as a miracle flowing from common interests and existing ties of the two opposing military blocks in the vast area governed by the "province of mankind" principle.
However, the dramatically deteriorated political situation in Europe during the last months and years, especially in its Eastern part, has demonstrated that our belief in the rationalism of international relations was in the best case naïve. This development did not leave space cooperation untouched: The end of the epoque of easy launching of satellites from Baikonur, of starts of Soyuz rockets from the ESA launchpad in French Guiana, and the politicized reduction of the Russian participation in the International Space Station show the poisoned atmosphere also in this area.