President Donald Trump announced yesterday his decision to move the Space Command HQ from its home in Colorado Springs, CO, to Huntsville, AL.
The official relocation to the Redstone Arsenal installation is the latest chapter in a multi-year back-and-forth that started in the final days of Trump’s first term.
To recap: In January 2021, the Air Force decided that it would relocate SPACECOM to Alabama, in a move that many Colorado lawmakers saw as red state favoritism after Trump told a radio show that he “single-handedly” decided on the move. This accusation, however, culminated with an IG investigation that reinforced Trump’s decision to relocate SPACECOM to Alabama.
The Biden administration rejected Trump’s selection, and left the combatant command in Colorado, where it reached full operational capability in December 2023. However, rumblings about a pivot to Alabama restarted in the early days of Trump’s second term.
Trump—as well as Sens. Katie Britt (R-AL) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)—explained at the press event yesterday that the move to Alabama is a necessary one for the strength of national security space mission, and Trump’s planned Golden Dome missile defense shield.
“This move will save the taxpayers $480 million,” Tuberville said. “We have 40,000 people there. We have the FBI there. We have missile defense. There we have NASA, Blue Origin…It is the perfect place for Space Command.”
Britt also expressed support for the move. “When you look at the decision matrix that they placed in front of us, that’s why we ranked so high, because we have the resources necessary and the ability to build out quickly to meet the needs in front of us,” she said.
Britt went on to share that the move would create over 1,600 jobs in Alabama, and would spur a huge economic boon for the state.
Quiet part loud: However, for all of the comments to the contrary, Trump’s thought process did sound at least partially politically informed.
“We love Alabama. I only won it by about 47 points. I don’t think that influenced my decision, though, right? That didn’t, right, but we had a lot of competition for this, and Alabama is getting it,” Trump said at the press conference. “The problem I have with Colorado, one of the big problems, they do mail-in voting…so that played a big factor.”
