President Trump announced he intends to move U.S. Space Command headquarters to Huntsville, Ala., in an Oval Office announcement on Tuesday.
This is not the first time Trump intended to move Space Command to Alabama permanently. During the final days of his first term, he announced his choice over other locations, saying he personally made the decision.
Then in 2023, the Biden administration said the move could put military readiness at risk. The latest switch by Trump has long been anticipated since Biden chose to keep the organization at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.
Space Command coordinates and oversees the nation's space assets and provides them to the newest branch of the U.S. military, Space Force, for possible deployment. Trump created Space Force during his first term to pursue U.S. superiority in space.
Trump was joined by Alabama's U.S. Senators Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt. He said moving Space Command to Alabama's so-called "Rocket City" could benefit the local economy by bringing in thousands of jobs and "billions of dollars of investment."
"Most importantly, this decision will help America defend and dominate the high frontier," Trump said.
Huntsville was the center of rocket development for NASA starting in the 1960s. The Marshall Space Flight Center tested the engines for spacecraft ranging from the Saturn Five booster that landed astronauts on the moon, to current spacecraft for SpaceX and Blue Origin, both privately-owned companies with significant government contracts. The NASA facility also oversees science performed aboard the International Space Station.
The move has political implications as well. Alabama is a reliably Republican state, where voters supported all three of Trump's campaigns for the White House. One of his first political rallies in 2015 was in Mobile, Ala., along the Gulf Coast.
Colorado has become increasingly Democratic since the 2008 Presidential election. Earlier this year, Colorado's Republican Congressional members wrote a letter to Trump asking him not to relocate operations.
During his announcement, Trump noted these political dynamics but said, "I don't think that influenced my decision, though, right?" He also said that "one of the big problems" he has with Colorado is the state's embrace of mail-in voting, "so they have automatically crooked elections." Trump's criticism of mail-in voting as a source of widespread fraud is unfounded.
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