Space Command Creates ‘Task Force Voyager’ to Coordinate Alabama HQ Move

U.S. Space Command has established an internal planning team dubbed Task Force Voyager to spearhead logistics for the combatant command’s relocation from Colorado to Alabama.

“U.S. Space Command’s headquarters relocation efforts are moving forward quickly,” a Space Command spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Since the announcement, we have stood up an internal cross-functional planning team named Task Force Voyager; remain engaged with stakeholders at the Pentagon, and in Alabama and Colorado; and have maintained a near-continuous command headquarters presence in Huntsville, to include through the government shutdown.”

SPACECOM did not provide further details about the task force’s objectives or its timeline for transitioning personnel and capabilities to its new locale.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with SPACECOM Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting this week to get an update on the team’s progress.

“Gen. Whiting presented current relocation courses of action on efforts to relocate personnel and mission capabilities expeditiously and responsibly to support the President’s directive,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. “Both leaders discussed ways to accelerate the military construction process, additional requirements to cut through bureaucratic red tape, and the balance between cost, speed, and the uninterrupted execution of the command’s warfighting mission.”

The command declined to provide details about what options Whiting presented or whether Hegseth approved them.

President Donald Trump’s decision in September to move SPACECOM’s headquarters to Huntsville, Ala., follows years of back-and-forth over where to permanently locate the combatant command’s central hub, which is charged with operating the Defense Department’s space capabilities. SPACECOM has been provisionally headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., since Trump re-established it in 2019 during his first administration.

In January 2021, just before he left office, Trump’s White House selected Huntsville to be the command’s permanent headquarters. Two years later, following several reviews, President Joe Biden reversed the decision, declaring the command would remain in Colorado. 

Colorado lawmakers challenged Trump’s 2021 decision, initiating a Government Accountability Office review and an Inspector General investigation into the Air Force’s basing process. This time, the congressional delegation hasn’t directed any formal reviews. Instead, Colorado’s attorney general in October filed a lawsuit to block the move, claiming it was politically motivated.

The lawsuit, filed Oct. 29, alleges that Trump’s decision amounts to “retaliation” against Colorado for the state’s stance on mail-in voting in violation of the state’s “exercise of its sovereign authority to regulate elections.” More than once during his briefing announcing the move, Trump called Colorado’s policy of allowing voters to submit ballots by mail “crooked” and claimed it influenced his decision. “When the state is for mail-in voting, that means they want dishonest elections,” Trump said. “That played a big factor.”

The lawsuit also calls for a stop-work order on all efforts to transition SPACECOM headquarters to Alabama. The command declined to discuss the pending legislation and whether it has disrupted the relocation timeline.