Back by popular demand: Space Command headquarter’s fate could be decided soon

The multi-administration long battle over the location of the US Space Command’s permanent headquarters may finally come to an end this month. Following the release of the Inspector General’s report on President Biden’s decision not to move the HQ to Huntsville, Alabama, Congressman Mike Rogers states President Trump’s decision could come soon.

Following a request by Congress, the Department of Defense Inspector General investigated the reason for President Biden’s decision to keep Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The report showed that the Department of the Air Force‘s preferred location, Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, passed several reviews and would save the Space Force $420 million.

How did we get here?

In the final weeks before leaving office in his first term, President Trump awarded Redstone Arsenal to be the home of Space Command. Space Command’s provisional headquarters was set up in its historical home of Colorado Springs as it worked on getting up to full operation.

President Trump’s late decision was viewed by many as a political favor to the overwhelmingly Republican state of Alabama and a punishment for the mostly Democratic state of Colorado. While the IG’s report showed the Air Force reportedly wanted Redstone to be Space Command’s home, the command itself was concerned about maintaining operational readiness with the move.

The Space Command argued that a move to Alabama could mean challenges in retaining employees who did not wish to move and would delay reaching its operational readiness levels. President Biden sided with Space Command to keep its HQ in Colorado Springs in 2023. Space Command reached operational readiness in the same year.

With the new report now public, Mike Rogers from Alabama, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, once again shared his frustration with the delayed move. “The Inspector General’s report confirms that the Trump Administration was correct in selecting Huntsville, AL, as the site for SPACECOM Headquarters, and reveals an astounding lack of transparency and accountability by the Biden Administration,” Rogers said in a statement.

In response to the report, Republican members of the Colorado Congressional delegation shared a letter to President Trump to keep Space Command in Colorado.

Rogers claimed in an interview that President Trump would share the official move to Huntsville this month.

Redstone Arsenal, a U.S. Army base, has been home to America’s missile and rocketry research and development since the 1940s. It’s the site of explosive training schools for the FBI and ATF, the Missile Defense Agency, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, and, most notably, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, which developed the Saturn V rocket, Space Shuttle, and International Space Station.