Flag of the United States of America

The Flag of the United States of America is the banner that was used on Earth to represent the United States of America in a variety of situations. The flag was also known as the Stars and Stripes or Old Glory.

The flag consisted of 13 equal red and white horizontal stripes that represented the original 13 colonies that broke away from Great Britain. The canton portion of the flag featuring a blue rectangle with five pointed stars for each of the states that made up the United States. From July 4, 1960 to the early 21st century there were 50 states in the Union, thus there were fifty stars on the flag. By 2033, two more states joined the Union and the number of stars increased to 52 stars. (TNG episode The Royale). The flag had been designed to hold a maximum of 56 stars, which was achieved by 2270 when the United States had 56 states. (TOS novel A Flag Full of Stars).

In addition to be woven into cloth, as was traditional, the flag was also painted on to the sides of American aircraft, naval vessels, and space vessels. The flag was also part of the uniforms for military and police forces.