United States of America (Space Race Didn't End)

The United States of America is a Federal Republic with 51 States and a Federal District. It is the viewed as the most powerful nation in the world in both economic and military terms. In addition to this it is on the cutting edge of technology; especially in space, military and computer technologies. The United Dtates is considered one of the worlds two superpowers the other being the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

History
This is the overview timeline for the space race since the point of divergence.

The Space Race, in many expert views, started with the Soviet successful launch of the first man into space in 1961. It further intensified during the Kennedy administration when he called of America to go to the moon by the end of the decade (the 60's). It was during the Nixon administration that the most dramatic changes in American policy took place. These changes were in response to the USSR sudden leap in space related spending and what many see as a policy change that nearly ended the leadership of the Soviet premier.

The sudden change in the Cold War politics effected not just the two superpowers but also the relationship between the Soviets and their North Vietnam allies which in turn lead to the fall of the North and eventually to the Chinese split up and civil wars which still effects so many in the world.

The rewards of the alteration from a cold war to a (peaceful) space race has been the reduction of nuclear weapon stockpiles by nearly 50%, since the signing of the SALT I Tready in 1971 and SALT ll in 1986.

The most

Government
The current president of the United States is Hillary Clinton, since January 20, 2008. She replaced Condoleezza Rice becoming only the third women to be president, this is also the first time two women have been presidents back to back.



Complete List of Presidents.

Economy
The economy of the United states is the largest in the world with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $22.1 trillion dollars and a per capital (GNP) of $60,000 ranking 7th. Its economy is mixed industrial with a strong agricultural sector which produces over half the world's exportable surplus grains. It has an ample mining sector and is the largest producer of steel on earth (300 million long tons) and in LEO (75 million long tons).

The United States is renowed around the world for its continued "can-do" additude, an innovative workforce and large middle class. The driving force in the USA is its rapidly growing space assets and continued efforts to maintain a technological advantage over its chief rival the Soviet Union, both of which receive very large research and development budgets.

Foreign relations and military
America's maintains embassies in most countries around the world and maintains close ties with her NATO allies and largest trading partners. The United States is currently involved in a period of détente with the Soviet Union in its ongoing space race.

The United States ongoing rivalry in space with the Soviet Union can be traced back to the Nixon administration when both the United States and the Soviet Union starting placing greater efforts into space exploration and technologies. These efforts caused a great amount of concern among the "hawks" of both nations. However, Nixon was able to get a working majority from both parties to prevent a slow down in spending for NASA and other space related programs.

The military of the United States is by far the most powerful. It has an active force of 2,150,000 with 3,000,000 reservists and guardsmen. Its navy is backed by over 350 combat vessels, with 10 carrier battle groups, 5 Ithacus strike force groups and 150 submarines. The army has 11,500 tanks and 18,000 other armored vechicles as well as nearly 2500 helicopters. The air force maintains 4500 combat crafts with 200 long range sub orbital bombers. While its space command force (its newest branch) has 100 rockets capable of moving 1200 troops or marines per ship. It also has a space force of 215 attack satillites and 24 orbital gun boats and 8 ships with interplanetary reach.

Demographics
The United States has a population on 376,500,000 as of July 2012 from the 2010 census of 368,700,000.The

population has been growing steadly since the first census in 1790.