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Armstrong, Neil Alden

Armstrong, Neil Alden

Neil Alden Armstrong (born August 5, 1930) is a former American test pilot and astronaut who was the first man to walk on the Moon. Armstrong was born near Wapakoneta, Ohio and served in the Korean War as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot. In 1950, he was sent to Korea where he flew 78 combat missions from USS Essex in a Grumman F9F-2 Panther. He received the Air Medal with two Gold Stars. He attended Purdue University where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1955. He later earned a masters degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. Armstrong then became a civilian test pilot for the NACA (the predecessor to NASA) at the High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Armstrong made a total of seven flights in the North American X-15, reaching an altitude of 207,500 feet (~63km) in the X-15-3 and a speed of Mach 5.74 (6,615 km/h or 3,989 mph) in the X-15-1. He left the Flight Research Center with a total of 2,450 flying hours in more than 50 types of aircraft. From 1960 to 1962 he was a pilot involved in the X-20 Dyna-Soar orbital glider program.

Career as an astronaut

Armstrong was selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1962. He served as the backup command pilot for the Gemini 5 mission in 1965. He commanded Gemini 8, which achieved the first docking of two orbiting spacecraft, in 1966, but aborted shortly after docking, because of malfunctioning maneuvering thrusters. He was the backup command pilot for the Gemini 11 mission in 1966. He also served as commander of the backup crew for the Apollo 8 lunar orbital mission in 1968. Armstrong narrowly escaped death during training in the crash of a lunar landing research vehicle (LLRV) on May 6, 1968 (see List of space disasters.) In July 1969, Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, which included lunar module pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins. The Apollo 11 mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 16, 1969. The moon landing took place on July 20, 1969. During the actual lunar landing, Armstrong took manual control of the Lunar Module (LM) Eagle and piloted it away from a rocky area to a safe landing with less than 30 seconds of maneuvering fuel remaining. His first words from the Moon were: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." (The first words on the moon, "Contact light", were spoken by Buzz Aldrin). Several hours later he climbed out of the LM and became the first person to walk on the Moon and said: first person to walk on the Moon :"That's one small step for Man, one giant leap for mankind." :(hear original audio, in WAV audio format) Although, if taken literally as spoken, the famous phrase is an oxymoron, as Man and mankind can be used as synonyms, matters of pragmatics, especially Gricean maxims, ensure that the speaker's intent is clear to listeners, namely that Armstrong is contrasting a literal step taken by an individual man with a metaphorical leap taken by humankind. Armstrong and NASA defended the original intent to say "...for a man...", variously claiming tape errors, static, and the like. However, the original recording contains ambiguity at the critical moment. Despite static both before and after the key phrase, the words "for Man", with scarcely a pause between, are clearly audible. Armstrong later admitted that despite planning and rehearsal, the line was spoken incorrectly. The Apollo 11 crew returned safely to earth on July 24, 1969 to worldwide acclaim. Shortly after the flight, the International Astronomical Union named a small lunar crater named in his honor near the Apollo 11 landing site. The Armstrong Air and Space Museum, built in his home town commemorates his achievements and those of other Ohio aviators.

Follow-on career

Armstrong joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati in 1971, and remained there as a professor of aerospace engineering until 1979. He was named vice chairman of the presidential commission that investigated the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle. Armstrong served as chairman of AIL Technologies, an electronics and avionics manufacturer, from 1989 until he retired in 2002. He has kept a low profile during his retirement, rarely giving interviews or making public appearances. He lives in Lebanon Ohio. In 2005, Armstrong said that a human voyage to Mars will be easier than the lunar challenge of the 1960s: "...I suspect that even though the various questions are difficult and many, they are not as difficult and many as those we faced when we started the Apollo (space program) in 1961." Armstrong also recalled his initial concerns about the Apollo 11 mission. He had believed there was only a 50 percent chance of landing on the moon. "I was elated, ecstatic and extremely surprised that we were successful," he said.[http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/09/06/armstrong.mars.ap/]

Private life

Armstrong has always preferred a life outside of the spotlight, but he has not always been able to keep it as such. In 1972, Neil Armstrong, was welcomed into the town of Langholm, Scotland. It was the traditional seat of Clan Armstrong and the astronaut was made the first freeman of the burgh. He happily declared the town his home. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/aboutus/wirelesstoweb/decades/clip_display.shtml?decade=70s&clip_name=armstrong&size=v&media_type=video] In May 2005, Armstrong became involved in an unusual legal battle with barber Marx Sizemore of Lebanon, Ohio. After cutting Armstrong's hair, Sizemore sold some of it to a collector for $3,000 without Armstrong's knowledge or consent. Armstrong threatened legal action unless the barber returned the hair or donated the proceeds to a charity of Armstrong's choosing. [http://history1900s.about.com/b/a/176268.htm]

Biography

After many years of unrelenting privacy, Armstrong authorized a biography. Titled First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong (2005) (ISBN 074325631X) and written by James R. Hansen, it describes Armstrong's initial interest in aviation, his service in the Korean War and his experiences as an Apollo astronaut.

References

- [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/armstrong-na.html Official NASA Biography]
- [http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?sid=33&pid=511222 First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong] (2005), Simon & Schuster
- [http://www.ohiohistory.org/places/armstron/ Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum]
- [http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/02/03/loc_armstrong03.html 2003 Armstrong Interview]
- [http://www.cincypost.com/2003/03/27/wecker032703.html Article on Armstrong's Autobiography]
- [http://www.cincinnati.com/visitorsguide/stories/012800_moon.html Article on opening of Armstrong Museum]
- [http://www.snopes.com/quotes/onesmall.asp Discussion of the "small step" quote phrasing]
- [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8062442/ Dispute over sale of Armstrong's hair clippings]
- [http://www.npr.org/programs/npc/2000/000222.narmstrong.html National Press Club] Audio and transcript from 2000 appearance.
- [http://www.edocorp.com/pr2002/02r0208.htm AIL/EDO Press Release] announcement of Armstrong's private sector retirement in 2002
- [http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/09/06/armstrong.mars.ap/index.html Neil Armstrong discussing the possibility of Mars trip]
- [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/03/60minutes/main1008288.shtml Transcript of 2005 interview on 60 Minutes] Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Neil ja:ニール・アームストロング simple:Neil Armstrong th:นีล อาร์มสตรอง

August 5

August 5 is the 217th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (218th in leap years), with 148 days remaining.

Events

- 642 - Battle of Maserfeld - Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Bernicia
- 1100 - Henry I crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey
- 1305 - William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance to England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution.
- 1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes first English colony in North America, at what is now St John's, Newfoundland.
- 1689 - 1,500 Iroquois attack village of Lachine, in New France.
- 1763 - Pontiac's War - Battle of Bushy Run - British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.
- 1772 - First Partition of Poland begins.
- 1812 - War of 1812: Tecumseh's Indian force ambushes Thomas Van Horne's 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
- 1858 - Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It operated for less than a month.
- 1860 - Carl IV of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim.
- 1861 - American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government issues the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge - Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mobile Bay begins - At Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
- 1874 - Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in England.
- 1882 - Standard Oil of New Jersey is established.
- 1882 - Martial law is enacted in Japan.
- 1884 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.
- 1912 - Japan's first taxicab service begins in Ginza, Tokyo.
- 1914 - In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
- 1944 - World War II: Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POW's attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, NSW, Australia. Most are killed but many escape and later commit suicide. Five Australian guards also die.
- 1944 - Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
- 1949 - In Ecuador an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6000.
- 1960 - Burkina Faso, then known as "Upper Volta", becomes independent from France
- 1962 - Film actress and sex icon, Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her Los Angeles, California home after apparently overdosing on sleeping pills.
- 1963 - United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
- 1964 - Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow - American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes attacked US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
- 1969 - Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers).
- 1974 - Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress places a $1 billion dollar limit on military aid to South Vietnam.
- 1981 - Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
- 1995 - The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is liberated by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated as the day of victory ("Homeland Thanksgiving Day") in Croatia.
- 1999 - Mark McGwire becomes the 16th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 2003 - A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

Births

- 1301 - Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician (d. 1330)
- 1623 - Antonio Cesti, Italian composer (d. 1669)
- 1641 - John Hathorne, American magistrate (d. 1717)
- 1662 - James Anderson, Scottish historian (d. 1728)
- 1694 - Leonardo Leo, Italian composer (d. 1744)
- 1802 - Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1829)
- 1813 - Ivar Aasen, Norwegian poet and language reformer (d. 1896)
- 1815 - Edward John Eyre, English explorer (d. 1901)
- 1850 - Guy de Maupassant, French author (d. 1893)
- 1872 - Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian physician (d. 1917)
- 1866 - Carl Harries, German chemist (d. 1923)
- 1877 - Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (d. 1917)
- 1889 - Conrad Aiken, American writer (d. 1973)
- 1890 - Erich Kleiber, Austrian-born conductor (d. 1956)
- 1906 - John Huston, American director (d. 1987)
- 1906 - Wassily Leontief, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- 1908 - Harold Holt, seventeenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
- 1911 - Robert Taylor, American actor (d. 1969)
- 1918 - Betty Oliphant, co-founder of National Ballet of Canada (d. 2004)
- 1923 - Devan Nair, President of Singapore
- 1930 - Neil Armstrong, astronaut
- 1935 - John Saxon, American actor
- 1937 - Herb Brooks, American hockey coach (d. 2003)
- 1939 - Princess Irene of the Netherlands
- 1943 - Nelson Briles, baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1946 - Loni Anderson, American actress
- 1946 - Jimmy Webb, American composer and musician
- 1947 - Rick Derringer, American musician
- 1953 - Rick Mahler, baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1956 - Maureen McCormick, American actress
- 1961 - Clayton Rohner, American actor
- 1962 - Patrick Ewing, American basketball player
- 1964 - Adam Yauch, American musician
- 1966 - Jonathan Silverman, American actor
- 1972 - Christian Olde Wolbers, Belgian bassist (Fear Factory)
- 1974 - Antoine Sibierski, French footballer
- 1975 - Kajol Mukherjee, Indian actress
- 1977 - Mark Mulder, baseball player
- 1980 - Wayne Bridge, English footballer
- 1981 - Carl Crawford, baseball player
- 1981 - Kō Shibasaki, Japanese singer and actress

Deaths

- 882 - King Louis III of France (b. 863)
- 1063 - Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, Welsh prince
- 1364 - Emperor Kogon of Japan (b. 1313)
- 1572 - Isaac Luria, Palestinian-born Kabbalist (b. 1534)
- 1579 - Stanislaus Hosius, Polish Catholic cardinal (b. 1504)
- 1633 - Archbishop George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1562)
- 1678 - Juan García de Zéspedes, Mexican musician and composer (b. 1619)
- 1743 - John Hervey, Lord Hervey, English statesman and writer (b. 1696)
- 1778 - Charles Clémencet, French historian (b. 1703)
- 1799 - Richard Howe, British admiral (b. 1726)
- 1868 - Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes, French archaelogist (b. 1788)
- 1880 - Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra, Austrian physician (b. 1816)
- 1895 - Friedrich Engels, German philosopher (b. 1820)
- 1923 - Vatroslav Jagic, Croatian slavist (b. 1835)
- 1929 - Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (b. 1847)
- 1955 - Carmen Miranda, Portuguese actress and singer (b. 1909)
- 1957 - Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
- 1959 - Edgar Guest, English poet (b. 1881)
- 1960 - Arthur Meighen, ninth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1874)
- 1962 - Marilyn Monroe, American actress (b. 1926)
- 1984 - Richard Burton, British actor (b. 1925)
- 1991 - Paul Brown, American football coach (b. 1908)
- 2000 - Sir Alec Guinness, British actor (b. 1914)
- 2002 - Josh Ryan Evans, actor (b. 1982)
- 2002 - Chick Hearn, American basketball announcer (b. 1916)
- 2005 - Polina Astakhova, Russian gymnast (b. 1936)
- 2005 - Jim O'Hora, American football coach (b. 1915)
- 2005 - Raul Roco, Philippine senator (b. 1941)

Holidays and observances

- Burkina Faso - Independence Day
- Croatia - Victory day and National Thanksgiving Day

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/5 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050805.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- August 4 - August 6 - July 5 - September 5 -- listing of all days ko:8월 5일 ms:5 Ogos ja:8月5日 simple:August 5 th:5 สิงหาคม

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded¹ from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18

Test Pilot

Test Pilot is a 1938 film that tells the story of a test pilot and his wife, who try unsuccessfully to keep their best friend, another test pilot, from drinking. It stars Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy and Lionel Barrymore. The film was written by Howard Hawks, Vincent Lawrence, John Lee Mahin, Frank Wead and Waldemar Young, and directed by Victor Fleming. Based on a story written by Frank Wead. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Category:1938 films Category:Drama films Category:Best Picture Oscar Nominee Category:Films directed by Victor Fleming

Astronaut

An astronaut, cosmonaut, spationaut or taikonaut (taikongren, 太空人) is a person who travels into space, or who makes a career of doing so. The criteria for determining who has achieved human spaceflight vary (see edge of space). In the United States, people who travel above an altitude of 50 miles (approximately 80 kilometers) are designated as astronauts. The FAI defines spaceflight as over 100 km (approximately 62 miles). As of October 12, 2005, a total of 448 humans have reached space according to the U.S. definition, 442 people qualify under the FAI definition, while 438 people have reached Earth orbit or beyond. These individuals have spent over 28,000 crew-days (or a cumulative total of 76.7 years) in space including over 100 crew-days of spacewalks. A person who has traveled in space is said to hold astronaut wings. Astronauts from at least 34 countries have gone into space.

International variations

By convention, a space traveller employed by the Russian Aviation and Space Agency or its Soviet predecessor is called a cosmonaut. "Cosmonaut" is an anglicisation of the Russian word космонавт (kosmonavt), which in turn derives from the Greek words kosmos, meaning "universe" and nautes, "sailor". In the USA, a space traveller is called an astronaut. The term derives from the Greek words ástron ("star") and nautes, ("sailor"). For the most part, "cosmonaut" and "astronaut" are synonyms in all languages, and the usage of choice is often dictated by political reasons. However in the United States, the term "astronaut" is typically applied to the individual as soon as training begins, while in Russia, an individual is not labeled a cosmonaut until successful space flight. The first known use of the term was by Neil R. Jones in his short story The Death's Head Meteor in 1930. On March 14, 1995 astronaut Norman Thagard became the first American to ride to space on-board a Russian launch vehicle, arguably becoming the first American cosmonaut in the process. European (outside of the UK) space travellers are sometimes, especially in French-speaking countries, called spationauts (a hybrid word formed from the Latin spatium, "space", and Greek nautes, "sailor"). Apart from the Soviet Union, Europe has not yet produced manned spacecraft, but has sent men and women into space in cooperation with Russia and to a lesser extent with the United States of America. Taikonaut is sometimes used in English for astronauts from China by Western news media. The term was coined in May 1998 by Chiew Lee Yih (赵里昱) from Malaysia, who used it first in newsgroups. Almost simultaneously, Chen Lan coined it for use in the Western media based on the term tàikōng (太空), Chinese for "space". In Chinese itself, however, a single term yǔháng yuán (宇航員, "universe navigator") has long been used for astronauts. The closest term using taikong is a colloquialism tàikōng rén (太空人, "space human"), which refers to people who have actually been in space. Official English texts issued by the Chinese government use astronaut ().

Space milestones

colloquialism The first attempt ever in human history to use rocket for a spaceflight was done in the 16th century by a Chinese Ming dynasty official, a skilled stargazer named Wan Hu.^{[http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/09/30/china.wanhu/index.html]} The first cosmonaut was Yuri Gagarin, who was launched into space on April 12 1961 aboard Vostok 1. The first woman cosmonaut was Valentina Tereshkova, launched into space in June 1963 aboard Vostok 6. Alan Shepard became the first American in space in May 1961. Vladimir Remek became the first non-Soviet European in space in 1978 on a Russian Soyuz rocket. On July 23 1980 Pham Tuan of Vietnam became the first Asian in space when he flew aboard Soyuz 37. In June 1985 Shannon Lucid became the first Chinese born person in space. On October 15 2003 Yang Liwei became China's first astronaut on the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. The first mission to orbit the moon was Apollo 8 which included William Anders - who was born in Hong Kong making him the first Asian-born astronaut in 1968. The youngest person to fly in space is Gherman Titov, who was roughly 26 years old when he flew Vostok 2, and the oldest is John Glenn who was 77 when he flew on STS-95. The longest stay in space was 438 days by Valeri Polyakov. As of 2005, the most spaceflights by an individual astronaut was seven, a record held by both Jerry L. Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz. The furthest distance from Earth an astronaut has traveled was 401,056 km (during the Apollo 13 emergency). The first non-governmental astronaut was Christa McAuliffe, who was killed during the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986. The first astronaut to fly a privately-funded mission was Mike Melvill, on SpaceShipOne flight 15P. This should be contrasted with the various millionaire space tourists, who have flown as passengers, or minor crew members, on publicly funded flights (generally Russian resupply flights to the ISS). The first space tourist was Dennis Tito on April 28, 2001. In the United States, persons selected as astronaut candidates receive silver Astronaut wings. Once they have flown in space they receive gold Astronaut wings. The United States Air Force also presents Astronaut wings to its pilots who exceed 50 miles in altitude.

International astronauts

United States Air Force Up until the end of the 1970s only Americans and Soviets were active astronauts. In 1976 the Soviets started the Intercosmos program with a first group of 6 cosmonauts from fellow socialist countries, a second group started training in 1978. At about the same time in 1978 the European Space Agency selected 4 astronauts to train for the first Spacelab mission on board of the Space Shuttle. In 1980 France started their own selection of astronauts, followed in 1982 by Germany, in 1983 by the Canadian space program, in 1985 by Japan and Italy in 1988. Several more international payload specialist were selected for the Space Shuttle, and also later for international Soyuz missions of Russia. In 1998 the European Space Agency formed a single astronaut corps of 18 by dissolving the former national corps of France, Germany and Italy.

Astronaut training

The first astronauts, both in the USA and USSR, tended to be jet fighter pilots, often test pilots, from military backgrounds. U.S. military astronauts receive a special qualification badge, known as the Astronaut Badge upon completion of Astronaut training and participation in a space flight.

Astronaut deaths

Astronaut Badge To date, eighteen astronauts have been killed on space missions, and at least ten more have been killed in ground-based training accidents. See also: space disaster.

External links

- [http://www.astronautix.com Encyclopedia Astronautica]
- [http://www.astronautix.com/astrogrp/phaonaut.htm Encyclopedia Astronautica: Phantom cosmonauts]
- Category:Transportation and material moving occupations Category:Transportation occupations Category:Science occupations ja:宇宙飛行士 simple:Astronaut th:นักบินอวกาศ

Wapakoneta, Ohio

Wapakoneta is a city located in Auglaize County, Ohio. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 9,474. It is the county seat of Auglaize County. It is the birthplace of Neil Armstrong, the first human to set foot on the Moon; the Armstrong Air and Space Museum is located in Wapakoneta. Oscar-winning screenwriter Dudley Nichols was also born in the city. The current mayor is Donald Wittwer. The city is served by an eight member city council including a council president, four ward representatives, and three at large members.

Geography

Dudley Nichols Wapakoneta is located at 40°34'9" North, 84°11'40" West (40.569242, -84.194420). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.8 km² (5.7 mi²). 14.7 km² (5.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.05% water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 9,474 people, 3,803 households, and 2,540 families residing in the city. The population density is 646.3/km² (1,674.7/mi²). There are 4,057 housing units at an average density of 276.8/km² (717.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 97.96% White, 0.19% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.37% from other races, and 0.77% from two or more races. 0.87% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. Latino There are 3,803 households out of which 33.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.4% are married couples living together, 11.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 33.2% are non-families. 28.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.43 and the average family size is 2.99. In the city the population is spread out with 26.2% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 28.4% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100 females there are 89.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 85.9 males. The median income for a household in the city is $38,531, and the median income for a family is $45,456. Males have a median income of $34,523 versus $23,478 for females. The per capita income for the city is $18,976. 8.9% of the population and 8.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 11.6% of those under the age of 18 and 9.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. poverty line

External links

- [http://www.wapakoneta.net/ City of Wapakoneta Official Website]
- [http://www.wapakdailynews.com/ Wapakoneta Daily News]
- [http://www.wapakoneta.com Wapakoneta Area Chamber of Commerce]
- [http://www.ohiohistory.org/places/armstron/ Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum]
- [http://www.noacsc.org/auglaize/wk/ Wapakoneta City Schools]
- [http://www.seemore.org/index.cfm/ Auglaize and Mercer County Convention and Visitors Bureau ] Category:Cities in Ohio Category:County seats in Ohio Category:Auglaize County, Ohio Category:U.S. micropolitan areas

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the northeast of the United States. It was the first and eastern-most state in the Midwest admitted to the Union under the Northwest Ordinance. Its U.S. pos