The 1963 Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference, also known as the Space Conference, was the first conference on space radiocommunications called by ITU. It took place at a time when the first communication satellite successes and the first launchings of manned space vehicles were making serious international co-operation more and more necessary. The main task of the Conference, which was attended by more than four hundred delegates from seventy ITU Member States, was the allocation of radio frequencies for outer space activities and the consequent revision of the Table of Frequency Allocations. Since the Geneva Radio Conference of 1959, the allocation of an adequate number of frequencies for outer space had become an urgent task due to the rapid growth of activity in space. The Conference finally allocated, on a shared or exclusive basis, frequencies totaling 6076.462 Mc/s for the various kinds of space services and for radio astronomy, 2800 Mc/s of which were for communication satellites on a shared basis with other services. Thus, while at the 1959 Conference only about 1 percent of the Table of Frequency Allocations was made available for outer space, about 15 per cent had now been made available.

The Conference also adopted a number of revisions and additions to other parts of the Radio Regulations, mainly concerned with general rules for the assignment and use of frequencies; notification and recording of frequencies in the Master International Frequency Register; the identification of stations; service documents; terms and definitions; and special rules relating to particular services. These revisions and additions were necessitated to make provision for the space services. In addition, the Conference adopted a number of important Resolutions and Recommendations with an eye to future developments in the use of outer space. For example, it recommended that Members and Associate Members of the Union make data available to the appropriate permanent organs of the ITU; that the Administrative Council should annually review the progress of Administrations in space radiocommunications and should, in the light of this review, recommend the convening of an Extraordinary Administrative Conference at a future date to work out further agreements for the international regulation of the use of the frequency bands allocated by the present Conference; and that notification and registration of frequency assignments to space services shall, until revised by a future Conference, be effected in accordance with the procedures adopted by the present Conference. In addition, considering that the number of flights by space vehicles or manned satellites was likely to increase, one of the most important Resolutions dealt with space vehicles in distress or emergency, noting that the frequency of 20 007 kc/s had been set aside by the Conference for this purpose and resolving that the conventional distress signal used by ships or aircraft (SOS in radio telegraphy and MAYDAY in radio telephony) should also be used by spacecraft.

Another Recommendation was addressed to the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) pointing out that "the use of satellite transmissions for direct reception by the general public of sound and television broadcasts may be possible in the future" and urged the CCIR to expedite its studies on the technical feasibility of broadcasting from satellites. Thus, an important step was taken towards the future possibility of the general public being able to receive radio and television programmes in their own homes direct from satellites. A further Recommendation called on the upcoming 1964 ITU Aeronautical Conference to provide high frequency channels (bands between 2850-22 000 kc/s) for communications for the routine flight of transport airspace vehicles flying between points of the earth surface both within and beyond the major part of the atmosphere. Finally, a Recommendation was adopted recognizing "that all Members and Associate Members of the Union have an interest in and right to an equitable and rational use of frequency bands allocated for space communications" and recommending to all ITU Members and Associate Member States "that the utilization and exploitation of the frequency spectrum for space communication be subject to international agreements based on principles of justice and equity permitting the use and sharing of allocated frequency bands in the mutual interest of all nations."

In addition to the work of the Conference, a special meeting was held on 9 October where a direct exchange of live televised messages took place via the United States communication-satellite Telstar. U Thant, Secretary General of the United Nations, spoke to the Conference from New York, and Mr. Gerald C. Gross, Secretary General of the ITU, answered from the Conference Hall in Geneva. A transcript of the speeches can be found in the Conference Documents and in the article Opening of the Conference on Space Radiocommunications.