Key Takeaways:
- President Trump announced the relocation of U.S. Space Command headquarters from Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
- The Department of Defense anticipates the relocation will generate over 30,000 jobs and attract substantial investment in Alabama.
- U.S. Space Command, a unified combatant command, was originally established in 1985, disestablished in 2002, and reestablished in 2019.
- The President stated that the command will contribute to the development of a planned "Golden Dome" missile defense system and enhance U.S. dominance in space.
President Donald Trump has announced that the U.S. Space Command will relocate from Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, to the Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
The statement came during a press conference at the White House on Tuesday where the president jested that Huntsville will be known as “Rocket City” from this point forward — a nickname that’s already been used by the city since the 1950s.
“I am thrilled to report that the U.S. Space Command headquarters will move to the beautiful locale of a place called Huntsville, Alabama,” Trump said Tuesday afternoon.
According to a Department of Defense news release, the move is expected to create over 30,000 jobs for Alabama and attract hundreds of billions of dollars in investments.
Space Command — or Spacecom — is one of the Defense Department’s 11 unified combatant commands, and was originally created in September 1985. In October 2002, Spacecom was disestablished and its forces were transferred to U.S. Strategic Command.
Trump reestablished Spacecom in August 2019 during his first term as president.
He said Tuesday that Spacecom will help build America’s planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system.
“We were losing the race in space very badly to China and Russia, and now we’re far and away No. 1 in space, and we’re [reestablishing] Spacecom with a mission to protect American space assets and detect any threat to our homeland,” Trump said.
No timeline was given for when the move is expected to occur.
