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The First “Space Kingdom,” Called Asgardia, Is About To Launch Into Orbit
A “space kingdom” called Asgardia, founded by a wealthy Russian-Azerbaijani industrialist, will soon launch its first satellite from the International Space Station. Legal experts say the idea of founding a country on a spaceship is bonkers.

Posted on November 25, 2017, at 6:00 a.m.
Dan Vergano
Dan Vergano
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Washington, DC

Asgardia, the first “space kingdom,” has a flag, a constitution and now, its first satellite — a shoebox-sized box awaiting release into orbit from the International Space Station.

“We have our territory in space,” said Igor Ashurbeyli, the Azerbaijani founder of the Aerospace International Research Center (AIRC) and the self-declared king of Asgardia. The Asgardia-1 satellite, just 8 inches long, now floats aboard the International Space Station.

Early next month, Asgardia-1 will be rocketed to a higher orbit, some 311 miles above the earth, where it will operate on its own. “Then we will celebrate,” Ashurbeyli told BuzzFeed News through his translator.

Space law experts, such as Mark Sundahl of the Global Space Law Center at Cleveland State University, are pretty dubious about its chances of ascending to nationhood. A spacecraft isn’t territory, they argue, just like a ship in the ocean isn’t a country.