Opponents of the decision to uproot U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs hope a pair of federal investigations due out soon could spur their efforts to block the move of the command and its 1,400 troops.

The command — which oversees all military activities in space — was ordered out of Colorado Springs in the waning days of the Trump administration.

Later, President Donald Trump claimed personal responsibility for the decision, saying he accomplished it “single-handedly.”

In January 2021 when Trump announced the command — provisionally housed at Peterson Space Force Base until at least 2026 — would be permanently based in Huntsville, Ala., it immediately drew outrage from lawmakers in Colorado and other states, triggering investigations by the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office.

The investigations were due to be completed last year, but results have yet to be released. Political sources had said one of the investigation’s results could be made public as soon as April 4. But some lawmakers are warning further delays of the public release that could take weeks.

Amid the investigations, pressure has built from Colorado’s congressional delegation, General Assembly, business groups and some in the aerospace industry to keep the command in the Pikes Peak region.

“We remain deeply troubled that the decision to relocate USSPACECOM undermined the two most important factors for any critical basing decision: protecting national security and minimizing cost,” wrote nine members of the congressional delegation in a letter to President Joe Biden last month.

Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper were joined in the letter by Republican Reps. Doug Lamborn, Ken Buck and Lauren Boebert, as well as Democratic Reps. Jason Crow, Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter and Joe Neguse.

The delegation also urged Biden to “carefully review both reports and ensure that the final basing decision takes the findings, and national security and cost implications, into account.”

U.S. Space Command was created in Colorado Springs in 1985 and oversaw military space missions before it was folded as the Pentagon pivoted to deal with terrorist threats posed by al-Qaida and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Congressional pressure began building to recreate the command in 2017 amid rising threats to U.S. satellites that provide battlefield missile warning, detect nuclear threats, and offer communications to combat troops along with precision navigation for military vehicles and guided weapons.

In the past year, Space Command has reported Chinese efforts to develop satellites that can hijack American spacecraft in orbit along with other anti-satellite weapons developed by Russia, Iran and North Korea.

In November, Russia destroyed one of its own defunct satellites with a direct-ascent interceptor in a test that polluted low-Earth orbit with more than 1,500 trackable pieces of shrapnel-like debris. Space Command is responsible for tracking the debris.

At the time, Gen. James Dickinson, the Space Command commander said, “Russia has demonstrated a deliberate disregard for the security, safety, stability and long-term sustainability of the space domain for all nations.”

Dickinson told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March that unprecedented threats to U.S. military space assets endanger combat capabilities in the air, land and sea.

“They are continuing to modernize their space attack capabilities,” Dickinson said of American rivals. “Today, space is a warfighting domain, because our competitors have made it so.”

In its 2023 budget request Monday, the Pentagon asked to boost Space Force spending by $7 billion, including $3.6 billion for research and development.

“The transformation is not complete with this budget; it’s moving us forward, but it’s not complete,” said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. “Looking ahead, I think there are again going to be a lot of decisions made as we get into (fiscal year) ’24 and as we learn more about what our requirements are, and we assess our priorities for modernization. So, I anticipate some hard choices ahead.”

The Pentagon’s budget proposal did not include planning or construction money to facilitate Space Command’s Alabama move.

Lamborn, who represents Colorado’s 5th Congressional district centered in Colorado Springs, called for the GAO investigation and continues fighting to keep the command in the district he serves.

“If the GAO report … or the simultaneous IG report, come up with flaws in the selection process, then that creates the opportunity to revisit the entire issue. And I believe the entire issue should be revisited because they came to the wrong decision,” Lamborn said.

“As the ranking member on the Strategic Forces subcommittee, that gives me amazing opportunities to have an impact on the direction of our military space program.”

Part of the argument to keep Space Command in Colorado Springs centers on co-locating it with the Space Force’s Space Operation Command. The bulk of Space Force troops work in Colorado. Another key player, the National Space Defense Center — which coordinates defensive and offensive efforts in orbit between the military and intelligence agencies — is housed at Schriever Space Force Base.

The underground Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center in Colorado Springs also is home to the nation’s key missile-attack warning center, which compiles satellite and radar data to alert leaders.

With U.S. Space Command, U.S. Northern Command, Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, no place in the United States can claim more strategic military importance than Colorado Springs.

Colorado has the largest contingent of bases named for the new space service. It is also home to Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Space Operations Command and the bulk of the Space Force’s troops.

“At a time when threats in space are rapidly increasing, particularly from Russia and China, USSPACECOM cannot afford any operational interruptions and must achieve Full Operational Capability (FOC) as quickly as possible,” said the letter from Colorado’s congressional delegation to Biden last month.

“As you are well aware, space has become an increasingly critical and contested domain that is central to our economy, communications and national security. President (Vladimir) Putin’s lawless, reprehensible aggression against Ukraine in violation of international rules and norms, underscores the urgency for America to maintain superiority in the space domain.”

In addition to defending satellite systems and providing GPS navigation, Space Command assists with national security communications, internet and cellular services along with missile warning and defense.

“We support the export controls and sanctions that you have enacted to degrade Russia’s defense programs, particularly in light of Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine. Our adversaries, however, will waste no time enhancing their space control operations, and neither can we waste time in developing our space defense strategies and capabilities,” the delegation’s letter continued.

“We must respond to rapidly advancing threats in space by building on the investments that have already been made in Colorado and to our mission in space — not squandering time, money, personnel and additional resources by moving USSPACECOM.”

The letter mentioned many of the space assets already in place in Colorado including the National Reconnaissance Office’s Aerospace Data Facility-Colorado at Buckley. The agency keeps an eye on space and warns against threats as part of its mission.

“Over the past several decades, Colorado has also developed national security communications systems that would be extraordinarily expensive to quickly replicate elsewhere. These unparalleled missions, and existing infrastructure, make Colorado the nexus of national security space operations for the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense,” the letter stated.

The intelligence community warned in its annual threat assessment that “Russia continues to train its military space elements and field new anti-satellite weapons to disrupt and degrade U.S. and allied space capabilities,” the letter said.

More than a dozen aerospace companies and accelerators sent a collective letter in March to Sens. Bennet and Hickenlooper, voicing their support to keep the command in Colorado Springs.

“We join you in advocating for Colorado as the permanent home of the U.S. Space Command headquarters. Colorado’s dynamic aerospace ecosystem is the force multiplier in our ability to deliver innovation to our national defense and space missions. Colorado is our chosen home because of the proximity to one another and to the defense missions. The aerospace industry draws a talent pool, provides access to robust university research, and allows for daily interactions with mission partners,” the letter began.

“Collaboration is the normal here. Proximity accelerates our ability to innovate. With Colorado home to GPS, Space Based Infrared System, and the Wideband Global Satellite Communications Systems as well the Space Force guardians and the provisional headquarters of the U.S. Space Command, we compete and collaborate every day to find applicable solutions.

“As many have learned during the last two years, while solutions exist to connect remote stakeholders, it is seldom as effective as face-to-face collaboration.”

Receiving the command would be a financial bonanza for Alabama and a big blow to Colorado Springs, because it will be backed by thousands of civilian workers and billions of dollars in military contracts. Any state housing the command would also potentially woo a bigger piece of the booming civilian space industry.

One of the 13 signatures on the aerospace industry letter was that of William Kowalski, co-founder and chief operating officer of Atomos Space, which relocates unmodified satellites in orbit to reduce development and launch costs.

“As a young, Colorado aerospace company with capabilities that can support the warfighter, being close to U.S. Space Command allows us to better interact with the end-user to iterate and deliver at the pace of a start-up,” Kowalski wrote in the letter.

Jeff Max, CEO of Durango-based Agile Space Industries, also signed his support of keeping the command in state.

“Colorado’s historic aerospace industry and the innovative drive of its entrepreneurs make it the right choice for the DoD’s future space aspiration,” Max said.

The letter went on to say, “We do business in Colorado because of the dynamic environment that draws talent, and spurs university research that in turn delivers innovators. It takes this type of ecosystem to foster the people who understand and can deliver the physics of the GPS-timing signal, the systems operation and coordination of our satellites and the civilians who build, operate, and maintain the information that goes to the warfighter.

“The competition is fierce for this talent. Colorado offers a quality of life that allows our aerospace companies to attract that talent, bar none.”

Gen. James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command, speaks at the 2021 Space Symposium at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.

Jerilee Bennett, Gazette file