U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R- Monrovia, remains confident that the decision to bring U.S. Space Command to Huntsville will be made shortly after the U.S. Senate confirms President Donald Trump’s nominee for Air Force secretary.
When that happens, it will bring about 4,700 jobs to the Tennessee Valley, the second-term congressman said during his Washington update hosted by the Athens-Limestone Chamber of Commerce at Athens State University on Monday.
“It’s my understanding it will be 1,700 jobs with a 3,000-job spinoff,” Strong said. “You start talking about 1,700 great paying jobs, high education level. You’ve got to have other jobs to spin off to make that happen.”
The congressman said the labor force for Redstone Arsenal, where Space Command would be located, and Cummings Research Park comes from 17 counties in north Alabama and southern Tennessee.
“So, this is not about just Redstone Arsenal,” Strong said. “This is about north Alabama. It shows what our region does. It shows what our region has already done for this country, and what we’re going to do. That’s why I’m bullish on the future of north Alabama.”
Strong said he discussed Space Command with the president during the flight on Air Force One earlier this month to Tuscaloosa for Trump’s speech at the University of Alabama. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey also said she discussed the subject with the president when he was in Tuscaloosa and said “Space Command belongs in Huntsville.”
Strong told AL.com the Senate will vote on the Air Force secretary “either this week or next week.”
“That right there will also start the process,” he said, “… which will then bring us a recommendation for Space Command.”
Strong cited a 21-category evaluation that said Huntsville was the best location for Space Command for national security.
“Not what was best for elections,” Strong said, “not what was best for this state or that state, but what was best for the taxpayers of America and what was best for national security. You look at it and those 21 categories, it talked about everything from education to cost to construct, the cost to maintain, and it wasn’t that Colorado was No. 2. Colorado in one of the reports was five. In the other report, they were four.”
See story: Space Command HQ report reveals fears that civilians would not leave Colorado for Alabama - al.com
Proposed NASA cuts
Strong also discussed proposed NASA budget cuts before taking the stage for his Washington update that included the phasing out of the Space Launch System, the super-heavy, expendable launch vehicle that is intended to propel humans to the moon. The SLS, which the president’s budget request calls “grossly expensive and delayed,” is managed by Marshall Space Flight Center.
“That’s the thing, the (budget) process has begun,” the congressman told AL.com. “I believe the folks here at Marshall are doing a phenomenal job. What we’re going to do is go in there and prove what they’ve done working with science, space and technology.”
He said communication has been ongoing with Rep. Brian Babin, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
“We now finally have the budget,” Strong said. “We’ve got to start doing what is best for America.”
The proposed budget seeks $18.8 billion in funding for NASA, down 24.3%, or $6 billion, from the $24.8 billion approved for the space agency last year.
A White House statement emphasized the request’s funding for both moon and Mars initiatives, including new money for private-sector investment.
The agency’s human space exploration program would see a $647 million boost in funding – the only major NASA program to come out ahead in the president’s proposal.
Yet the budget request would cut $879 million from “legacy” spaceflight projects like SLS and the Orion crew capsule by phasing them out after the Artemis 3 mission, which will land humans on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 and is planned for a mid-2027 launch.
Artemis, NASA’s $100 billion, decade-long human lunar exploration program, includes plans for a permanent colony on the moon, which is intended to serve as a steppingstone for crewed Mars missions. Artemis currently consists of 10 planned lunar missions through 2035, all of them intended to launch atop the SLS and to house the crew in Orion capsules.
See story: Trump wants billions cut from NASA, including ‘grossly expensive’ Huntsville rocket - al.com
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