THE city chosen to host the White House’s Space Command headquarters is a rural Alabama town with a deep-rooted history with NASA.
Huntsville earned the nickname Rocket City after producing the ship that put the Apollo 11 crew on the Moon in 1969.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced that the federal government’s Space Command center would be moved from Colorado Springs to the southern town.
This came after he signed an order to bring back the center in 2018 after it had been absorbed in 2002 into the US Strategic Command.
Since his first term, Trump has expressed his intentions to reestablish America as a leader in space exploration and believed that investing in Huntsville was the way forward.
However, in 2023, when Joe Biden was president, his administration decided to keep Space Command in Colorado, where its temporary headquarters had been located.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said that hundreds of billions of dollars would be poured into Huntsville and the town would forever be known as “Rocket City.”
For decades, Huntsville has attracted tourists who travel from across the country to see the US Space and Rocket Center (USSRC), which was established by rocketeer Wernher von Braun.
Von Braun worked with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in the 1960s and was the lead architect for the world-changing Apollo mission.
He and his team of German-born aerospace engineers helped to produce the Saturn V super-heavy-lift launch vehicle that helped propel spacecraft to the Moon
After making history, von Braun started advocating for space travel in the US, at one point partnering with Walt Disney to produce a series of space-themed movies.
His goal for the USSRC was to get the next generation of Americans excited about exploration and even more outlandish projects like a trip to Mars.
Though he didn’t live long enough to see his plans play out, the center went on to actualize his grand vision.
In 1982, the first Space Camp opened, offering children the opportunity to peek behind the curtain at how hero astronauts like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took steps on the Moon.
Now, well over 800,000 children and adults have visited Huntsville to attend the wildly popular day, weekend, and week-long camps, the Associated Press reported.
HIDDEN GEM
Huntsville lies about an hour and a half north of Birmingham and is the most populous city in Alabama.
According to the 2020 Census, over 200,000 people reported living there.
Tourists who didn’t sign up for camps can still visit the USSRC to tour the largest space museum in the world.
Travelers can witness America’s space program in real time by getting a look at the facilities where top talents are researching the final frontier.
“A space enthusiast, history buff, appreciator of the arts, or anyone with a general curiosity for how the world works would enjoy Alabama’s top tourism jewel,” the City of Huntsville’s website states.
“Where else can one stand beneath the world’s only full-stack Space Shuttle, complete with two solid rocket boosters and external tank?”
Pieces in the museum’s permanent collection include the first American satellite, the Explorer I, and design modules for the International Space Station.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/travel/15101817/rocket-city-alabama-space-command-white-house/