Space Race (Oswaldia)

With President Kennedy's second term the Space Race took on a new dimension and became another front in the Cold War.

The timeline until the moon landings remains the same as OTL. NASA, under direction from the President Hubert Humphrey (1968-1972) developed a multi-pronged approach to space, with a re-usable personnel launcher, the Space Shuttle and a number of rockets, including the ultra-massive Saturn VI and Saturn VII.

Spacelab was established using the "wet workshop" concept, where the upper stages of the Saturns V, VI and VII were converted into workspace. As the Korean War broke, however, Spacelab was subverted by the military. While it remained in name and outward appearance a research station, significant military payloads were introduced.

By 1975 it was re-christened Space Station Freedom, and external space-based radar dishes were affixed. Secondary space stations were created for additional space monitoring of US military targets.

The USSR had effectively lost the space race following the moon landings, but refused to let the US have the ultimate high ground and launched their own space stations in competition.

In 1978 the US Legislature expanded the range of the Air Force, and allocated funding for the Interceptor program, an intercontinental bombing and reconnaissance craft.

In 1980 US reconnaissance stations discovered Russian construction of Okhotnik or Hunter ships, the USSR counterpart to the US's Interceptors.