Colorado’s entire congressional delegation issued a joint statement, saying the president’s decision to relocate Space Command “will directly harm our state and the nation.”

President reverses a Biden-era decision to keep it at temporary headquarters in Colorado Springs

President Donald Trump’s decision once again to move U.S. Space Command out of Colorado drew immediate condemnation across party lines from the state’s congressional delegation on Tuesday — and raised the specter of a legal challenge.

More than seven months after his return to office, Trump’s long-expected announcement that his administration would move the command to Alabama reversed a Biden-era decision to keep its headquarters in Colorado Springs. A military review previously had recommended the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, but the Republican president also invoked politics by saying one of the considerations was that voters in Colorado largely vote by mail.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said he was planning a legal challenge to try to stop the relocation. And in a joint statement, the state’s entire congressional delegation said the president’s decision “will directly harm our state and the nation.”

Space Command, the lawmakers stated, is “already fully operational” in Colorado Springs and relocating it “would not result in any additional operational capabilities.” The move “sets our space defense apparatus back years, wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, and hands the advantage to the converging threats of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea,” the delegation wrote.

  • Ghyste@sh.itjust.works
    8·
    7 days ago

    Strategically it’s a horrible place. Not only does the elevation provide better ground to space communication, the mountains provide good protection for one of our most important assets.

    • danc4498@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      7 days ago

      So, what exactly is the difference between NASA and space force? I assumed Space Force wasn’t actually handling the execution the way NASA did.

      • Ghyste@sh.itjust.works
        16·
        7 days ago

        Space Force is actually military, and was part of the Air Force until some dumbass split them (guess who?). NASA is civilian.

        From there I think the overlap is easiest as a list:

        • Most of the payloads launched, including anything to do with the ISS, are NASA. These include all science satellites, probes, landers, telescopes, etc.
        • The military has its own satellites and spacecraft (X-37B). These are contracted to launch on NASA or commercial vehicles.
        • All launch vehicles are either developed and built by NASA or more recently, NASA contracted commercial companies.
        • All of the government launch facilities are controlled by the Space Force. This includes Cape Canaveral, Edmunds Space Force Base in California, and Wallops Space Force Base in Virginia. Commercial launch providers are now renting pads at these locations.
        • Side note to mention that SpaceX has Starbase in Texas, Blue Origin has Launch Site One outside of Van Horn, Texas, and Virgin launches from Spaceport America in Nevada.
        • The Space Force handles tracking for any craft in orbit around earth and perhaps most importantly handles all near Earth object tracking. NASA and the other companies do have tracking for their own missions but the Space Force is watching anything put into orbit.
        • The Space Force also provides weather reporting for any launch.

        This isn’t all of it but I think I hit several of the main functions that are interagency. Hope this helps!