SPACECOM will leave Colorado for Alabama’s Rocket City

By Alan Wooten
The Center Square

U.S. Space Command Headquarters will move to Alabama from Colorado.

Calling Huntsville by its beloved “Rocket City” nickname, second-term Republican President Donald Trump reversed yet another Biden era action and credited the city for fighting harder “than anybody else.” Known colloquially as SPACECOM, the agency “plans, executes and integrates military space power into multi-domain global operations in order to deter aggression, defend national interests, and when necessary, defeat threats,” says its military website.

Huntsville is home to the Redstone Army Airfield and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The Space and Missile Defense Command of the Army is also in Huntsville and is source of the community moniker.

Gen. Stephen Whiting leads headquarters at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado. The installation sought to retain its position. As Trump’s first term wound down, the Air Force on Nov. 19, 2020, named Peterson and Redstone among six finalists. The others were Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico; Port San Antonio in Texas; Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska; and Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.

Two dozen locations were in the self-nominated category of wanting to be host. That included then-Sen. J.D. Vance – now Vice President Vance – helping lead an Ohio charge for NASA John H. Glenn Research Center’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky. California also made a pitch in its role as home to two Air Force bases (Edwards, Travis), two Marine Corps installations (Pendleton, Twentynine Palms), multiple Navy bases and the Army’s sprawling Fort Irwin training center.

In 2023, then-President Joe Biden said temporary headquarters in Colorado Springs would become permanent. That bucked Trump’s first-term plan, a move he said “wrongly obstructed.”

In a release, Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said, “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.”

Ivey has been governor since 2017, when former Gov. Robert Bentley resigned. She won election in 2018 and 2022 with 59.5% and 66.9% of the votes, respectively.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said, “Alabama was chosen in 2021 because it was the absolute best location for the Space Command headquarters. Today, in 2025, it remains the best location for our national security and for the taxpayer. This basing decision has been affirmed and reaffirmed by multiple agencies and multiple officials throughout both the Trump and Biden administrations. Biden was content to have Space Command located in the fourth best location because it served him politically. The differences between him and President Trump have never been clearer.

“On this historic day, I am extremely proud to be an American, proud to be an Alabamian, and proud to support the administration who made this possible.”

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle estimated 1,400 jobs will come over the next five years.

“Uprooting Space Command will weaken national security and readiness, waste taxpayer dollars, and inconvenience military families,” said second-term Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado. “Coloradans and Americans should all be provided full transparency and the full details of this poor decision.”