section_path: History of exploration and human presence/Moon Treaty and explorational absence (1976–1990)
section_name: Moon Treaty and explorational absence (1976–1990)
paragraph_text: Moon Treaty and explorational absence (1976–1990)
  
  Following the last Soviet mission to the Moon of 1976, there was little further lunar exploration for fourteen years. Astronautics had shifted its focus towards the exploration of the inner (e.g. Venera program) and outer (e.g. Pioneer 10, 1972) Solar System planets, but also towards Earth orbit, developing and continuously operating, beside communication satellites, Earth observation satellites (e.g. Landsat program, 1972), space telescopes and particularly space stations (e.g. Salyut program, 1971).
  
  Negotiation in 1979 of Moon treaty, and its subsequent ratification in 1984 was the only major activity regarding the Moon until 1990.