The article discusses the genesis of the international legal framework for regulating the search and rescue procedures, including those related to the application of space satellites used to determine the location of aircraft and ships in distress that arose in the late 20th century after the establishment of an international intergovernmental organization for these purposes. Methodology: This research is based on the analysis of a significant amount of regulatory material, including international treaties, acts of international intergovernmental organizations, and doctrinal studies of Russian and foreign legal scholars in the field of international law. The research methodology was based on general scientific (system analysis method, deduction and induction methods) and specific scientific (historical-legal, comparative-legal, formal-legal, methods of legal modeling and forecasting) methods of cognition.