1959, the Committee was made permanent. Between September 10, 1962 and April 16, 1963 five draft proposals were received by COPUOS from four States. All of the proposals contained principles to be incorporated into a UN declaration relating to the exploration and use of outer space. Following lengthy negotiations the Committee submitted a resolution entitled "Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space" to the General Assembly. This was adopted in December 1963. During the following two years COPUOS focused on writing a liability convention and on the needs of astronauts and space objects in distress. On December 21, 1965, the General Assembly asked COPUOS to give consideration to the drafting of an international agreement setting forth the legal principles governing the activities of States in the exploration and use of the space environment. Following careful negotiations in COPUOS, and at its recommendation, the General Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution 2222 (XXI) on December 19, 1966. This resolution contained the Principles Treaty, and the General Assembly invited all States to sign and ratify it. Upon having received the requisite number of ratifications the treaty entered into force in October 1967. If it is accepted that the serious negotiations for the treaty began only in 1962, it took about five years for an existing and structured international organization to produce this Treaty. Had it not been for the willingness of the United States and the Soviet Union to press for the acceptance of the agreement it could have taken longer. Moreover, within the United States propitious political Carl Q. Christol, The International Law of Outer Space, pp. 459-482, 1966. ^General Assembly Resolution 1963 (XVIII).
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