United States Space Administration (Fallout: Ex Luna)

The United Space Space Administration, or USSA, was the American government agency responsible for the nation’s civil and military space program. During the Resource Wars it worked heavily alongside the US military to protect and enforce American interests both in space and on Earth.
==Background==
===Formation===
The roots of the USSA lie in the Cold War between the United States, Russia, and China following the Second World War. Early into the Space Race the USA itself lagging heavily behind the USSR after the communist nation launched the first satellite into space, Sudno-1. America would combine both its military and civilian interests working on rocketry, the NACA and Army Ballistic Missile Agency, into one singular agency. The USSA was born and focused its efforts on putting the first animal into space; this succeeded in 1957 when Mr. Pebbles became the first creature to orbit the Earth.
Throughout the Space Race the USSA constantly clashed with the Chinese and Russian space agencies, the People’s Ministry of Aerospace and Comcosmos, for superiority in and outside of Earth's orbit. All three space agencies would claim to put the first human in space, citing varying definitions of what is truly considered “outer space.”
The USSA stagnated greatly between the 1980s to the 2020s as the United States focused increasingly on domestic issues. It wasn’t until China began ramping up its space program to launch both civilian and military satellites that the USSA was granted more funding to match its communist rivals. The 2030s marked a new era for American space exploration, the Zeus program and its Delta IX rocket was one of the USSA’s most successful rockets and saw 77 completed launches. Converted for military use after 2052, the Delta IX saw even more use as an ICBM after the crew and instruments sections were replaced with a nuclear warhead.
===The Tranquil War===
In the 2040s it became undeniable to the nations of the world that the planet’s resources were drying up. Oil prices steadily increased and the dissatisfaction of citizens towards their governments reached a high of the century. In an attempt to distract their populace and instill a sense of national pride, the European Commonwealth tried to establish moon bases and lunar colonies. These were left neglected and largely uncompleted when the Euro-Middle Eastern War began and were completely abandoned in its wake.
While fusion technologies were still being researched in the mid-21st century, China launched an operation to mine Helium-3 in the Sea of Tranquility for use in future fusion reactors. The United States claimed the lunar mare was their rightful territory, citing the Valiant 11 lunar landing as their claim to the area. China would mine regardless, a subsequent firefight between astronauts and taikonauts alongside a breakdown of negotiations escalated into a full lunar military conflict, the Tranquil War. Current USSA missions were put on hold as the new Ares program was established, a joint USSA-US military mission to force China out of the Sea of Tranquility. 
Dozens of astronauts and trillions of dollars of equipment were shipped to the Moon in one of the shortest and most expensive USSA programs. Lasting from 2051-2052, the conflict ended in a ceasefire with both nations agreeing to stop manned Moon missions to dissuade from further expensive conflicts. The final American mission would visit the Valiant 12 landing site and reclaim its flag before returning to Earth.
===Resource Wars===
Desperate for resources, the European Commonwealth invaded the countries of the Middle East toward the end of the Tranquil War. The United States and China largely stayed out of the conflict, however as world tensions escalated and Europe fell into ruin they both drastically increased their military spending. The USSA and RGHB launched countless military satellites to support the defense of their nations, many of which were used during the Sino-American War. 
After China invaded Alaska and the Anchorage Reclamation began, both nations focused almost exclusively on military applications for space missions. Orbital weapon platforms were developed by both sides but very few were used or even fully functional before the Great War. America clandestinely sent several astronauts to the Moon through the Minerva program despite the earlier treaty with China, prompting a short conflict on the Moon mere days before the War.
===Mars Shot Project===
Initiated in the early 2070s, the Mars Shot Project was an effort by America to colonize the red planet as part of the larger Hermes program. Civilian contractors like Arcjet System and Repconn Aerospace were hired to produce the necessary technologies for the voyage and long-term settlement. Officially the Mars bases would be inhabited by the brightest and best for human colonization, but in reality the project was part of the Enclave’s Project Starship. The American shadow government attempted to use the Hermes program to establish a Mars colony that key members would retreat to in the event of a nuclear war, however this plan was scrapped and the Mars Shot Project would be permanently cancelled by the Great War.
===Post-War===
The USSA ceased to exist following the Great War, however its legacy can still be seen in the wasteland. Some key officials may have escaped to Control Station ENCLAVE, while the Enclave used the Kovac-Muldoon and Bradley-Hercules satellites for their own purposes in the post-apocalypse. Satellites and space stations like Valiant-1, Kovac-Muldoon, and B.O.M.B.-002 would lose their orbit and crash to Earth, later being picked apart by scavengers.
==Technology==
===Spacecraft===
The earliest goal of the United States during the 1950s and 60s Space Race was the construction of rockets that could reach space. By the time of the Great War, many different types of advanced spacecraft were in use by the USSA. The Delta line of rockets, including the Delta IX and XI, needed only one stage and could reach orbit without jettisoning parts. Space shuttles were also used extensively, such as those used by the Mars Shot Project's Hermes XIII and XIV missions. One advanced prototype, the 11-LRH, was a reusable single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane and was used only a few times before nuclear armageddon. 
===Space Stations and Satellites===
The exact amount of pre-War space stations and satellites that were in operation is unknown, however surviving records suggest that hundreds of military satellites were active during the final days of the Sino-American War.SatCom Array NW-05a terminal entries "Finally got to begin on my work in earnest today. Dish motivators are offline, but I was able to input some basic coordinates and ping nearby satcom arrays to the southwest and east. There was some interference pinging the NN-03d array. Probably Radroaches or something making a nest in the dishes. It may be worth sending one or two of the mercs over there to clean it out in case I can use those towers to amplify my own signal.There were dozens of military satellites in orbit, just from the old records I found in the ruins. There must have been hundreds before the war. If I can find just a few operational platforms..." The vast majority of satellites were created for military purposes. The BOMB manned stations were designed to deploy conventional nuclear weapons from orbit, while the Bradley-Hercules, Highwater-Trousers, and Kovac-Muldoon satellites of the Neame Initiative launched tactical nuclear warheads.
===Weaponry===
==References==
Category:United States of America
Category:Government