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Military Space

Alabama Wants Y'all To Join Their Space Force

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
June 24, 2018
Alabama Wants Y'all To Join Their Space Force

Rep. Mo Brooks pushes to put ‘Space Force’ command in Alabama, AL.com
“Alabama’s congressional representatives aren’t wasting any time lobbying for the Pentagon to put President Trump’s new “Space Force” command on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.”
Mo Brooks pitches Space Force headquarters at Redstone Arsenal, WAFF
“Forgive me for diverging from the primary focus of this hearing, but it occurs to me that each of you has significant persuasive influence on where the new space command will be headquartered, so I am going to touch on that for a moment. In that vein, I hope you will help make Redstone Arsenal a finalist in the space command headquarters debate. Redstone Arsenal has a lot to offer. We have related to space command– either related a lot or related a little– the following space command activities: United States Army Aviation and Missile Command; Aviation and Missile Research Developmental and Engineering Center; PEO Missiles and Space; United States Army Space and Missile Command; Army Forces Strategic Command; United State Missile Defense Agency; Defense Intelligence Agency’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center; NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, which is the home and birthplace of America’s space program; a wealth of intellectual talent; engineers, we have the highest concentration of engineers in the United States of America; physicists; mathematicians; scientists.”

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

32 responses to “Alabama Wants Y'all To Join Their Space Force”

  1. ThomasLMatula says:
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    Got to love the level of self-interest in Alabama. But why would a spinoff from the USAF relocate from their current home in Colorado to Alabama? But then they did hijack the Army’s rocket program from WSMR in the 1940’s.

    • Michael Spencer says:
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      How about temporarily on orbit while permanent lunar digs are constructed?

    • Bill Phil says:
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      We’ve got a lot of space stuff out here.

      Lockheed, Boeing, Aerojet, and more. Plus NASA MSFC and much more. Not actually a bad choice. Of course there are plenty of other choices. But the whole space program is like this. Senators and Representatives are trying to get space related government actions in their districts/states. It’s technically their job…

      • ThomasLMatula says:
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        Yes, but I often have wondered if a lot more progress would have been made if they had used the money to transfer the scientists from WSMR, and operate Redstone Arsenal to develop rockets at WSMR instead. There is are advantages to having your manufacturing and design next to a launch range.

        • Daniel Woodard says:
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          Here in Florida we have the 45th Space Wing and most of the launches and human flight support. But Space Command is geographically diverse and there is no overwhelming reason to locate the headquarters in Colorado, Alabama, or anywhere else. DOD Launch vehicle development and production is no longer at Redstone, which was a Army facility, so its not clear why it should be there. Of course Space Command includes cyberwarfare but does not command ICBM launches, so its location near NORAD doesn’t mean that much either.

          The bottom line is, where would you rather live, Huntsville or Colorado Springs? A move would be costly. I would say that unless there is a good reason, leave it where it is.

          • Homer Hickam says:
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            Huntsville, by several miles. We’ve got it good here. Great schools, great neighborhoods, inexpensive housing, not much traffic, enlightened politicians, low taxes, young, dynamic population, craft beer companies, beautiful mountains with lots of hiking trails, Tennessee River and lakes with many marinas, greenways all over town, retirement villages, Redstone Arsenal with room to grow, Space Camp with lots of property for expansion and in the black financially, tens of thousands of Space Camp/Academy alums, University of Alabama in Huntsville, a great engineering/science school, Alabama A&M, Oakwood University, dozens of big and small aerospace/tech companies, MSFC, Toyota, Remington, Blue Origin… On second thought, you’re right. Don’t come here.

          • ThomasLMatula says:
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            The University of Colorado – Colorado Springs is much larger than UAH. You also have a real Academy, the USAF Academy, it would be easy to rename it U.S Aerospace Academy and use it to serve both services. And then there are the Rocky Mountains and stars to see as opposed to the hot humid summers and damp winters in Huntsville. All in all it makes sense economically and operationally to leave it where Space Command is already located.

          • Homer Hickam says:
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            We have the Space Academy already here (https://www.spacecamp.com/s… but that’s fine, call it the U.S. Aerospace Force and, for now, let’s not create another branch of the military with all the attendant complexities involved including giant new facilities, PX’s, and so forth. We really don’t need the thing, not yet, and if we do, it should indeed be on the moon.

          • ThomasLMatula says:
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            There is a difference between an “academy’ for tourists and a Service Academy, which is a regular college that confers degrees. Recall that West Point served a similar purpose for the USAF until the USAF Academy was established.

          • Homer Hickam says:
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            Really? Gosh! The things you learn on the Internet! 🙂

          • james w barnard says:
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            I strongly agree! With the tendency toward “jointness” in service operations and facilities, there is no need for an additional separate service, at least at the present time. SPCOM can be bolstered and its status improved along with increased spending on space-related capabilities. Perhaps Space Command operators could be given distinctive uniforms. But there is no need to increase the complexity of the command structure…at least until we have a real threat…like maybe the Kilingons invading the solar system.

          • Daniel Woodard says:
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            At the moment despite a DOD space budget that exceed’s NASA’s, there are no actual DOD personnel in space nor any mission that requires them. It would be the first service that has no one at all in its specified area of operations.

          • chuckc192000 says:
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            …and Roy Moore barely losing a senate race.

          • Homer Hickam says:
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            When it comes to politics, there’s north Alabama and then there’s the rest of Alabama, not that we don’t all love one another. Old Roy lost his way a long time ago and I was shocked that he had any chance at all. You have to chalk a lot of it up to name recognition and his battles for the Ten Commandments and all that which tended to get votes, no matter who or what he was. My take was that he was a scoundrel and a throw-back political hack who was also really “peculiar,” if you know what I mean. I know his opponent, “Big” Luther Strange, a fine gentleman but decidedly also a politician. It just seemed to me that Alabama should really, really have a Senator named Luther Strange so I supported him. As for the fellow who made it instead, Doug Jones, I don’t see him lasting more than one term but we shall see.

        • Homer Hickam says:
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          Two reasons why not. First and foremost was Senator Sparkman from Alabama who was quite powerful in the Senate and needed to do something with Redstone Arsenal which was a bullet factory during World War II and prime government real estate. Secondarily, and far behind the first, was the wish for German engineers to be reunited with their families in a place that wasn’t so alien to them and that also could not only absorb an influx of such folks but be welcoming. Hot, dry WSMR was fun for them as bachelors but not so much for them as family men. As for developing rockets at WSMR vs. Redstone Arsenal, the Germans quickly built a test stand for the Redstone rocket which was all they needed for their engine work.

          • ThomasLMatula says:
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            Actually it was almost entirely the first reason, a powerful Senator wanting pork and grabbing for it, just like Senator Shelby and the SLS. It’s been the curse of the space program since the 1940’s. Duplicate facilities, excessive overhead and expensive travel. Neither MSFC or JSC were ever really needed except for building support via pork giveaways.

          • mfwright says:
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            Second reason is quite compelling. Reminds me an article about Spaceport America (in middle of nowhere) not particularly desired place to live unless you are rock climbing or desert rat specialist.

  2. Bill Phil says:
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    Can’t argue with this idea.
    We do have MSFC out here. You know, the place where the Saturn V was designed…

    • ThomasLMatula says:
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      So? I don’t think that the Space Force will be using a lot of Saturn V to protect space. 🙂

  3. David Fowler says:
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    Sorry, Mo. It’ll be at Peterson AFB.

  4. SouthwestExGOP says:
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    Wow – trying to grab the pork before buying the pig!!

  5. Donald Barker says:
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    Are they heralding a banner to war, asking all to come do their patriotic duty or what?

  6. JadedObs says:
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    Hey, maybe they could call it the Confederate Space Force!

  7. zug42 says:
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    Since it’s never going to happen – well it be what they call COS play. Have folks dress up and parade around.

  8. space1999 says:
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    When I first saw the headline I read it as:

    “Mel Brooks Pitches Space Farce…”

    😉

  9. Zed_WEASEL says:
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    While I think establishing a Space Force is not needed at this time. The USAF fulfills the functions of the proposed Space Force for at least another decade.

    However since we talking about where to put the Space Force headquarters. It would actually make more sense to locate it close to Washington DC if not the district itself. After all the primary function of a Space Force HQ is to secure funding for it’s budget.

    • David Fowler says:
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      The pilots that run the Air Force have been short-shrifting AFSPACECOM since the 1980s, and regularly raid its budget for aviation projects, hence, the problem.

      • Daniel Woodard says:
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        The solution to poor management is not more management. The solution to questionable DOD prioritization is not Congressional micromanagement.

  10. Dewey Vanderhoff says:
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    In space, nobody can hear you laugh , either…