President Trump is expected to announce Tuesday afternoon that U.S. Space Command headquarters is moving from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Huntsville, Alabama, according to a U.S. official and two sources familiar with the planning.
Mr. Trump signed an executive order in 2018 reestablishing U.S. Space Command, after it had been absorbed in 2002 into U.S. Strategic Command.
Its main goal is to find ways to defend U.S. interests in space, especially the constellations of satellites that U.S. ground, sea and air forces rely on for navigation, communications and surveillance.
In 2023, then-President Joe Biden had decided to keep Space Command headquarters at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, overturning Mr. Trump's first-term decision to move it to Alabama.
Biden had been convinced by the head of Space Command, Gen. James Dickinson, that moving its headquarters would jeopardize military readiness. But Air Force leadership studied the issue and argued in favor of moving it to Huntsville.
Announcement marks Trump's first public appearance in a week
The president's expected announcement from the Oval Office will be his first public appearance in a week, when he held a meeting with his Cabinet. Mr. Trump spent the long weekend golfing at his private club located outside of Washington, D.C.
Jennifer Jacobs is a senior White House reporter at CBS News.
