More than two months have gone by since President Donald Trump announced that U.S. Space Command would be on the move to Alabama. And it’ll still be a matter of years until the new headquarters is up and running.
Even before Trump made his decision official in September, preparations were underway in Huntsville to welcome the military’s newest program to a place aptly nicknamed Rocket City. In Huntsville, famed for its role in building the first rockets that helped the United States reach the moon, officials are eager to house the headquarters for Space Command and its operations to expand the nation’s military might beyond Earth.
But in Colorado, leaders have been less than willing to so easily part with a facility that has been a mainstay since 2019, employing more than 1,000 people.
What’s more, the loss of Space Command would be the second military headquarters Colorado’s largest city stands to lose in 2025. The headquarters for STARCOM, which prepares U.S. Space Force soldiers for combat, recently moved from to Colorado Springs to Florida.
Here’s everything to know about Space Command’s impending relocation from Colorado to Alabama, and everything that’s occurred since Trump first publicized the move.
What is US Space Command?
U.S. Space Command is responsible for military operations beyond Earth’s atmosphere, or about 62 miles up and higher – the internationally recognized boundary of space known as the Kármán Line. That includes defending U.S. satellites from potential threats.
More specifically, Space Command conducts operations like enabling satellite-based navigation and troop communication, and providing warning of missile launches.
Space command is separate from the U.S. Space Force – a service branch of the military, like the Army or Navy, according to the Department of Defense.
Space Command was originally created in 1985 to provide joint command and control for all military forces in outer space before it was merged into U.S. Strategic Command in 2002. Space Command was then established once again in 2019 under the first Trump administration with a new focus on potential space-based combat.
Trump to move Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Alabama
Trump in early September announced that U.S. Space Command ‒ one of the Defense Department’s 11 combatant commands – would relocate from Colorado Springs to Huntsville.
The Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs has been the home of Space Command since 2019, first on an interim basis. Now, Space Command’s headquarters is due to be moved to the Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
Trump’s move, which aligns with the Air Force’s original preference, comes after Huntsville officials lobbied for the headquarters to move to a state that overwhelmingly supported Trump’s three Republican presidential bids.
Huntsville is nicknamed “Rocket City” because of its role in U.S. spaceflight history, most prominently during the space-race era in the 1960s between the United States and the Soviet Union. Redstone Arsenal itself dates to World War II and is also the site of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
The city is also a major hub for defense contractors and aerospace companies, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
STARCOM also moved from Colorado Springs – to Florida
STARCOM, the Space Force’s training hub for warfighting in space, is also on the move out of Colorado Springs under a move first announced in 2023 during the Biden administration.
Constructing new buildings and setting up the training headquarters at the Patrick Space Force Base in Brevard County, Florida, is expected to take several years. In the meantime, STARCOM – Space Training and Readiness Command – will use existing and temporary buildings at the base.
Activated in 2021 as Space Force’s third field command, STARCOM is expected to employ 450 personnel in Florida under the command of U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. James Smith.
What is the latest on Space Command’s relocation to Huntsville, Alabama?
The process of relocating Space Command’s headquarters – including the approximately 1,700 personnel employed at the Colorado site – is expected to be a costly effort that takes years.
The USA TODAY Network left a message Nov. 17 with Space Command’s media team that was not returned.
In a statement at the time of the announcement on social media site X, Space Command said it “stands ready to carry out the direction of the President following today’s announcement.”
City leaders in Huntsville, though, have signaled that preparations have long been underway to establish Space Command operations over the next five years. In a press release after Trump’s announcement, Huntsville officials said 60 acres of land near the center of Redstone Arsenal have been selected for the new headquarters.
Huntsville has also invested more than $1 billion already to improve transportation, education, healthcare and infrastructure to accommodate the anticipated influx of workers and their families, according to officials. A total of about 1,400 jobs are due to be filled when the headquarters becomes operational.
“These investments reflect years of long-range planning to prepare our city for future growth,” Mayor Tommy Battle said in a statement. “They demonstrate Huntsville’s commitment to being mission-ready from day one.”
Colorado sues Trump administration over Space Command HQ move
Trump’s decision to move the headquarters to Huntsville reverses a move made under former President Joe Biden’s administration, which had selected Colorado Springs in 2023 as the permanent home for Space Command.
Alabama officials hailed Trump’s decision as one that brings with it the potential for tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investment. But Colorado leaders condemned the move as a waste of taxpayer money that will put national security at risk.
And at the end of October, the state took legal action.
On Oct. 29, Colorado’s attorney general sued Trump’s administration for a decision he claimed is unconstitutional retaliation for the Democratic state’s vote-by-mail practices.
Contributing: Zac Anderson, USA TODAY; Reuters
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Colorado already lost STARCOM to Florida. Now, Space Command will move to Alabama
Reporting by Eric Lagatta and Rick Neale, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
