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Army Space Command gets new 'home'

by Maj. Laura Kenney, Army Space Command

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Army News Service, Oct. 8, 2002) -- A four-star admiral and a three-star general will cut the ribbon Oct. 9 to ceremoniously open a new Army Space Command building.

Adm. James O. Ellis Jr., commander, United States Strategic Command, and Lt. Gen. Joseph M. Cosumano Jr., commander, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and U.S. Army Space Command, will do the opening honors at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

The new Building Three, with its soaring, futuristic architecture evoking limitless horizons, is obviously symbolic of the future, but also representative of a substantial past, according to Space Command officials. Its unique coloration -- a silvery, metallic green -- immediately marks it out among its peers in the Space Complex as "the Army building."

Conceived of in 1987, and undergoing numerous transitions in design and size since due to the burgeoning nature of the Army's role in Space, ground for the 103,000 square foot building was broken in July 2000. It was completed on time and within budget July 2002.

"We're very proud of this new building," said Hugh Mason, director of Public Works, Army Space Command. "It is without a doubt the most modern building in the Army inventory. And everything about it, from its design, to its color, to its location -- make it a fitting home for a command that is of increasing importance to the Army and to the nation."

Mason has been with the command since 1989, and has been a driving force on the new building project practically since its conception.

"Without a doubt, this is my 'career project,'" Manson said. "People are very excited about moving into this building, and I am personally very, very proud to have been a part of it from the beginning. Now, to finally see it opening..."

Army Space Command was officially activated in 1988, although the Army's involvement in Space can be traced all the way back to 1943, with the establishment of the Ordnance Rocket Branch to manage the development of rockets. The Army has many firsts, giving rise to the command's slogan "First in Space," including the launching of the first two stage-rocket, the Bumper, into Space in 1948, and the building and launching of the first U.S. satellite in 1958.

A headquarters building was officially requested in 1987, and the original concept called for it to be built on Fort Carson, with a 35,000 square-foot design.

The building has come a long way since then, not least the changes in size and location, officials said.

"This building serves as a symbol for the Army's commitment to Space, and to ensuring its many benefits are forever provided to the warfighter" Cosumano said. "It is a large and tangible symbol of our investment in Space, and its location in the Joint Space Complex is evidence of our solidarity within the Joint Space community. We look forward with great pleasure to working even more closely with our sister services, with Northern Command and with Strategic Command."

Ellis, as the new commander of STRATCOM, under which Army Space Command falls for Joint operations, will speak at the opening ceremony.

The huge lobby of the new building was created with vast areas of space and light. A backup version of the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, built by the Army and launched by an Army rocket, the Jupiter C in 1958, is suspended from the ceiling. An immense photograph of that rocket launching dominates the lobby, with the gleaming rocket trailing a vivid stream of fire.

From the exterior, the building arches to a sharply angled point, drawn from the serrated spear in the Command's crest; appearing as a metaphor for space travel, officials said. Geometric cutouts of the building's front entrance seem to provide space for docking starships, a design similar to TRADOC's training barracks which are dubbed 'Starships."

At a cost of $26 million, the building will house all operational and administrative elements of Army Space located in Colorado Springs.

"One of the greatest aspects of this building is that we will be able to train, prepare and deploy operational assets, either for training or actual operations, right from the building to the airfield," said Mason.

Tim Lynch, deputy operations officer for Army Space, who has also been with the building project since its inception, summed it up.

"The whole concept of a Space complex, in which we work closely with our Air Force counterparts, the Navy Space elements that we'll also house in our new building, plus our colleagues at NORTHCOM in Building Two, and the great Space technology base of this area, is now come to fruition, with the opening of Army Space Command's new 'home," said Lynch.