Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal is one of six military sites on the shortlist to house the new U.S. Space Command, according to an Air Force memorandum obtained by CNN.
According to the memo, four Colorado sites and one California base are also on the list. The Colorado finalists are: Buckley Air Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Peterson Air Force Base, and Schriever Air Force Base. California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base rounds out the list.
The command could bring as many as 1,450 personnel, including 390 military officers, 183 enlisted personnel, 827 civilians and 50 contractors to Redstone, which is home to the Missile Defense Agency, Army Aviation and Missile Command and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
The final six locations were selected based on cost, co-location with an existing military organization that would become a component of the future Space Command, access to a C-18 aircraft capable airfield, communications connectivity, administration buildings and available base support, CNN reported.
The memo also identified Redstone’s Space and Missile Defense Command as one of the existing military components that will be assigned to the Space Command. The Space Force itself will fall under the Air Force.