WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The Trump administration

is planning to announce as early as Tuesday that it will

relocate U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs,

Colorado, to Huntsville, Alabama, according to a U.S. official

and a person familiar with the deliberations.

The decision would reverse a move made under President Joe

Biden's administration, which had selected Colorado Springs as

the permanent home for the military's newest combatant command

in 2023.

A relocation could spark controversy, with critics arguing

the switch appears designed to favor Alabama, a reliably

Republican state, over Colorado, which has increasingly voted

Democratic in recent elections. Space Command currently operates

from Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs on an interim

basis.

Huntsville, home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and

a major hub for defense contractors, such as L3Harris ( LHX )

and Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), has long lobbied for the Space

Command headquarters.