Update: On July 31, several outlets reported that President Joe Biden would keep the U.S. Space Command headquarters in Colorado, according to senior U.S. officials.
Alabama lawmakers submitted a bill in May that would block funding for the expansion of the temporary Space Command headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado in an effort to ensure that Huntsville remains the preferred location for the eventual permanent headquarters.
In January 2021, as one of his last decisions before leaving office, former President Donald Trump announced that the Space Command headquarters would be located in Huntsville.
In December 2022, the Biden Administration ordered a review of the Space Command headquarters. The review came just months after a federal judge lifted an injunction on Alabama’s 2019 abortion ban, which banned nearly all abortions, after the June 24 overturning of Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This allowed the law to go into effect.
“I’m deeply concerned about how the Dobbs decision and state abortion bans will affect Space Command’s workforce and readiness if the command leaves Colorado,” Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said in an emailed statement to Military.com.
Some UA students say that they would like to see Space Command stay in Huntsville, hopeful to get a job there after graduating. According to The Denver Post, the Space Command headquarters will eventually employ around 1,400 people.
“I would personally like it to be in Huntsville, because I grew up in Rocket City,” Jadyn Kiezer, a sophomore majoring in aerospace engineering, said. “For me, it would almost be perfect to be able to graduate and move back to an expanded home with life-changing opportunities.”
Huntsville is currently home to several technological institutions, including MIT Lincoln Laboratory and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. U.S. News & World Report also ranked the now-largest city in Alabama as the second best place to live in the United States for 2023-2024.
“We’ve had Boeing, the FBI and countless other agencies come to the Rocket City, so why not the Space [Command]?” Joel Teague, a junior majoring in criminal justice, wrote in a text message.
In a recent report from NBC, multiple U.S. officials claimed that the move was due to the recent abortion restrictions.
“Madison County is a red county and voted for Trump in 2020,” Teague wrote. “Even if the feds don’t want to publicly admit it, just like they didn’t want to admit moving it, I think that’s what it is; just another slap in the face to red states and counties from a president who falsely claimed he would unite the country.”
However, a White House official said that reproductive health care did not play a role in the decision to move the location.
On Sept. 30, 2021, Colorado legislators signed a letter directed to the Secretary of Air Force, Frank Kendell, arguing that Colorado Springs, the current location of the Space Command, is best suited for maximizing national security. The letter also argued that keeping the command in Colorado would save taxpayers an estimated $1.2 billion and allow for full mission capability seven years earlier.
“Serious questions remain about the cost of this decision and its effect on our ability to respond to critical and escalating threats in space,” the letter stated. “Our nation cannot afford disruptions to the current mission at this time, especially as China and Russia work to match or exceed U.S. capabilities in space.”
