In the News

On September 2, in a reversal of a Biden administration decision to make Colorado Springs, CO the U.S. Space Command’s permanent headquarters, President Donald Trump announced the headquarters would be relocated to Alabama.

In early 2021, the Secretary of the U.S. Air Force named the Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville the preferred location for the headquarters of the new U.S. Space Command. The Department of the Air Force had conducted both virtual and on-site visits to assess which of six possible locations would be best suited to host the headquarters based on factors related to mission, infrastructure capacity, community support, and cost. The decision was later reversed by President Joe Biden in favor of Colorado.

Huntsville is home to companies including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command is also located in the city.  Huntsville earned the nickname “Rocket City” due to its role in building the first rockets that helped the U.S. reach the moon. According to the Alabama Department of Commerce, an estimated 1,400 Space Command jobs will transition to Huntsville over the next five years.

Governor Kay Ivey issued the following statement on the Space Command headquarters move to Alabama:

“Soon after President Trump directed the Department of Defense in 2018 to begin planning for this new military branch, Space Force, we began making our own preparations in Alabama for the city of Huntsville to compete to be home for Headquarters. As I have said all along, there is no better place to locate Space Command Headquarters than in Huntsville, Alabama. Today, the facts prevailed, and it is official: Space Command Headquarters is coming to Sweet Home Alabama.

“The Redstone Arsenal region was ready to welcome Space Command Headquarters when I made the official pitch to the Defense secretary in June 2019, and it remains ready today to not only welcome Headquarters, but to welcome all of the military personnel and their families.

“I commend Redstone and city of Huntsville leaders for their diligence in maintaining a mission-ready stance. I also applaud our entire Congressional delegation – Republicans and Democrats – especially Congressman Mike Rogers as chairman of the House Armed Service Committee. As our history shows, Alabama always stands ready to support the defense of our great nation, and Huntsville continues proving the Rocket City is truly ‘Space Central.”’

Colorado Reacts

U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, along with U.S. Representatives Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, Jeff Hurd, Lauren Boebert, Jeff Crank, Jason Crow, Brittany Pettersen, and Gabe Evans released the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s  decision to move the U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs to Huntsville:

“Today’s decision to move U.S Space Command’s headquarters out of Colorado and to Alabama will directly harm our state and the nation. We are united in fighting to reverse this decision. Bottom line—moving Space Command headquarters weakens our national security at the worst possible time.

“Moving Space Command sets our space defense apparatus back years, wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, and hands the advantage to the converging threats of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The Department of Defense Inspector General’s office has reported multiple times that moving the Command will impede our military’s operational capability for years. 

“Space Command’s long-term presence in Colorado Springs has also created a large number of civilian businesses and workers on which the Command now relies. Those people will not simply move with the Command at the military’s whim. Many of them will leave the industry altogether, creating a disruption in the workforce that will take our national defense systems decades to recreate.

“Being prepared for any threats should be the nation’s top priority; a crucial part of that is keeping in place what is already fully operational. Moving Space Command would not result in any additional operational capabilities than what we have up and running in Colorado Springs now. Colorado Springs is the appropriate home for U.S. Space Command, and we will take the necessary action to keep it there.”