The Department of the Air Force has chosen Huntsville, Alabama, to host U.S. Space Command, or SPACECOM, headquarters.

An Air Force spokesperson told Military.com on Wednesday that the Army's Redstone Arsenal has been selected as the preferred location. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a separate announcement regarding the news. Huntsville, already home to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center as well as Redstone, is sometimes known by the nickname “The Rocket City.”

Want to read more stories from Military.com? Download the Military.com News App today.

In November, the service selected six candidate locations to host the military's 11th unified combatant command. The bases included Redstone; Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico; Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska; Patrick Air Force Base, Florida; Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; and Port San Antonio at Kelly Field, Texas.

Read Next: Pentagon Authorizes National Guard Troops Around Capitol to Carry Lethal Weapons

The location is expected to host roughly 1,400 personnel, spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said at the time.

SPACECOM was reactivated in August 2019, before the establishment of the Space Force, the military's sixth branch, that December. SPACECOM is responsible for military operations related to space, while the Space Force organizes and trains space personnel. Like the other military branches, the Space Force has its headquarters at the Pentagon.

The process to find a location for SPACECOM started in spring 2019 but faced pushback from lawmakers who believed the Defense Department was not being transparent enough about its selection. In May 2020, the Pentagon directed the Air Force to go back to the drawing board to find a permanent home for Space Command.

The command is temporarily housed at Peterson in Colorado Springs, which is also home to a robust, space-focused infrastructure with the nearby Schriever Air Force Base and Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station.

Yellowhammer News, an Alabama news website, reported Wednesday that Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., was instrumental in bringing SPACECOM to his state. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., now a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, was one of Space Force's original champions.

Rogers added a provision to the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act that would have required the Air Force to stand up an internal "U.S. Space Corps" in hopes of taking enemy threats in space more seriously. That effort hit a roadblock months later and was ultimately dropped, only for the idea to be resurrected later by President Donald Trump, who called for the establishment of the Space Force.

Costs for new construction to support SPACECOM are estimated at nearly $1 billion, Yellowhammer reported.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

© Copyright 2021 Military.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.