Give humanity one thing. For all our shortcomings, nobody has turned the moon into a nuclear launchpad…at least, not yet. That's by design, because the Outer Space Treaty (yep, that's a thing) went into effect 47 years ago on October 10, 1967. It bans participating countries from placing nuclear weapons in Earth's orbit, on the moon, or stationed anywhere in space. It also bans any use of the moon for militaristic purposes, like testing weapons or building bases, and forbids nations from annexing celestial bodies, such as the moon or other planets. (Don't expect Mars to become the 51st state, since the US is a party to the treaty.)

This stuff might seem pretty far out, but it's nice to know we've imagined a future where it might happen and pretty much collectively said "Nah, let's not go there." As of today, 102 countries are full parties to the treaty, while 27 more have signed it without completing ratification. Russia and China are parties. Heck, even North Korea is on board. It's easy to overstate the importance of this, since only a relative handful of countries have nuclear weapons programs, and only one has made it to the moon. ('Murica!) Countries are notorious for violating treaties as soon as they decide it's to their advantage, and we flirted with modifying this one when Reagan proposed his "Star Wars" initiative in the '80s, which never panned out. But if a future that resembles "Star Trek" more than "Star Wars" is in the cards for us, it would help if we didn't use outer space to blow ourselves up first. It's a pretty low bar. So far we've been able to clear it.

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