Space Command’s new temporary facility in Huntsville now open

U.S. Space Command took another step forward toward establishing its headquarters here in Huntsville, as officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday to officially open its temporary facility at Redstone Arsenal.

The top secret Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility will accommodate approximately 80 US Space Command personnel.

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Space Command cuts the ribbon ‘on more than just a building’

The transition from Colorado to Alabama for the Space Command headquarters is expected to take approximately five years, with a significant portion of staff expected to be in Alabama within the next three years. But around 80 staff members are moving into this SCIF, and Gen. Stephen Whiting, Commander of U.S. Space Command, said he expects more than 200 staff in Huntsville by the end of the year.

“Today, we cut the ribbon on more than just a building. This facility represents a critical step forward for US space command. This is where we plant our flag for the first operational element of our headquarters. The joint intelligence support element here at Redstone arsenal today is about the people and the mission behind it.”

_{Gen. Stephen Whiting, Commander of U.S. Space Command}

Whiting said the 80-person team that will occupy the SCIF is “just the beginning of what I like to call our first launch of a 200 plus space command team which will be on Redstone by the end of the year.”

Currently, approximately 20 personnel are stationed at Redstone Arsenal. SPACECOMM is renovating existing buildings at Redstone Arsenal for temporary operations.

An announcement in March from Whiting to the Senate Armed Services Committee indicated that the timeline for the facility’s official move to Redstone Arsenal includes a 2031 opening, with a groundbreaking sometime next year.

During a recent relocation update with Huntsville-Madison County civic leaders in Washington, Whiting shared a conceptual rendering of the command’s future permanent headquarters at Redstone Arsenal.

The conceptual rendering of the new headquarters is based on a planned 427,000-square-foot facility located on a 64-acre site at Redstone Arsenal, designed to house close to 1,500 employees.

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