The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs will launch an aerospace engineering bachelor’s degree program in the fall. The University of Colorado at Boulder hosts among the top five aerospace engineering departments in the country, known as the Ann and H.J. Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

Colorado Springs hosts the federal government’s Space Command, Space Force, the Air Force Academy, Peterson Space Force Base, the Space Foundation and dozens more institutions that form the basis of our country’s growing and increasingly important space-oriented national defense establishment. No state has a better networked collection of universities preparing space experts with public-private partnerships.

The Space Foundation hosted the 37th Space Symposium this week at The Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs and Gov. Jared Polis attended to declare his state “AerospaceCO” – a label state government will use to market Colorado to more aerospace companies.

Polis met with multiple aerospace CEOs, including Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice. The company is partnering with Blue Origin, Boeing, AWS (Amazon Web Services) and others to build NASA’s Orbital Reef space station.

The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade reports Colorado hosts more than 400 companies that are “leading and supporting groundbreaking missions related to space and planetary science.” Our state’s aerospace companies and the synergistic culture they create make Colorado the Silicon Valley of military space technology.

As reported by The Denver Gazette’s Dennis Huspeni, the Colorado Economic Development Commission recently approved eight aerospace company proposals to relocate or expand in Colorado. State officials agreed to award $19.7 million in grants to those companies to create 2,047 jobs over the next five to nine years.

“In addition to natural attributes such as miles of open land, strategic location and a capitol that’s nearly 5,300 feet above sea level, Colorado also possesses cutting-edge space exploration programs, four military commands and renowned research laboratories and universities,” explains the state’s Economic Development Commission.

With Colorado becoming the country’s indisputable hub of military space operations – at a time when Russia and China increasingly jeopardize the free world – moving Space Command from Colorado Springs would be foolish and dangerous. What next? Maybe move Naval Base San Diego to a reservoir in Kansas.

Then-president Donald Trump ordered relocation of the command to an Army base in Alabama. It was an obvious parting shot at Colorado voters who trounced him and his ally – then Sen. Cory Gardner – during the 2020 election. He has taken sole credit for the decision. It was a classic Trump move that should surprise no one.

Trump’s decision was political and emotional, and in no way enhances our national defense and the cause of world peace. He made the decision before Russia invaded Ukraine and China began seriously threatening a similar invasion of Taiwan – an American ally essential to sustaining America’s technology and technological advancement. Colorado Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper have met with President Joe Biden to explain the importance of reversing Trump’s ruling.

“China sending a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile circling the globe in near earth orbit and then maneuvering toward its target should make it clear that the imperative to preserve leadership in space is nothing to joke about,” wrote former U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy, a Republican, in the Air Force Times. Kennedy recently presided over the University of Colorado, where he worked to enhance aerospace studies and partnerships, and spent this week at the Space Symposium.

“Russia’s recent satellite destruction affirms, the new high ground is space, and it is contested,” Kennedy wrote.

We cannot waste a moment upending Space Command, the neurosystem essential to protecting the world from the space-based threats of aggressive enemies of freedom. As the Space Symposium adjourns Thursday, we urge this gathering of the world’s most brilliant and gifted space engineers, scientists and assorted experts to oppose the dangerous move of Space Command from AerospaceCO – the booming hub of space operations public and private.

World peace might depend on Biden reversing an unfortunate decision by former President Trump. Help persuade our commander in chief to do the right thing.

Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board