Beavercreek Mayor Bob Stone received an endorsement from Governor Mike DeWine on submitting Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as a potential home for the U.S. Space Command headquarters.
An announcement by the Air Force on May 15 introduced an open bidding process for all 50 states to suggest their bases for consideration.
The U.S. Space Command, established in August 2019 as the military’s 11th combatant command, is currently housed in temporary headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Today I endorsed @WrightPattAFB and the surrounding #Dayton region as the ideal location for the new @US_SpaceCom headquarters. pic.twitter.com/uC4ydg77If
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) June 23, 2020
“After careful review of the screening and evaluation criteria, we believe our community meets all minimum eligibility requirements and would earn a competitive score when assessed against the evaluation criteria,” said Mayor Stone in a letter to the Pentagon.
Space Command differs from the heavily memed Space Force (not the one with Steve Carell).
Originally established under the Reagan administration, the U.S. Space Command debuted in 1985. It merged with the U.S. Strategic Command in 2002 after a mass realignment of the military after 9/11.
The U.S. Space Force, established by President Trump on December 20, 2019, is still in its infancy with much to be discovered as to how either it or the Space Command will contribute to military operations on Earth, and in space. As painful as it might be to hear, it doesn’t involve astronauts with guns or TIE Fighters. The Department of Defense attempted to clarify the Space Force’s role in the military with a release on Space Defense strategy on June 17. The United States Space Command or SPACECOM as it is called, has a fact sheet that outlines its role within the military.
The Air Force hopes to have a new location for SPACECOM headquarters by the summer of 2021. If Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio were to be selected, it would take roughly six years before the new headquarters is fully operational. Plenty of time to save up for your tickets to Mars.
To learn more about SPACECOM, visit spacecom.mil.
