San Antonio is in the hunt to be the new home of U.S. Space Command.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Wednesday the city has survived the initial cut as the Air Force seeks a permanent headquarters for the command, now based in Colorado Springs, Colo.

He said San Antonio was a natural fit because of its quality of life, a skilled work force that includes military personnel transitioning to civilian life, a large veterans community, and specialists who work in space-related fields.

We have the largest presence of cyber and intelligence capabilities outside of the national capital region, Nirenberg said. And we have a public-private military and civilian infrastructure thats required, including medical and military support networks, housing, transportation and veteran services, as well as electric, water, gas and telecommunications that are all critically important.

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Space Command was established as the 11th combat command in August 2019. It operates just like the Central Command, a unified command that has overseen wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with forces from the various military branches.

Space Command acts as a warfighting command in space, with its leader reporting directly to the defense secretary.

It is separate from U.S. Space Force, established as a new branch of the military last year, and the first since the Air Force was created in 1947. Space Force will organize, train and equip troops the Pentagon calls space professionals.

It is headquartered at the Pentagon with the other major military branches.

Gen. John William Jay Raymond commands both organizations at the moment.

The Air Force didnt say how many cities were eliminated in the original competition, but Richard Perez, president and CEO of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, said 100 originally joined the contest. The quest for the command has gone on largely below the radar, with the mayor saying nothing publicly about it and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff not even being aware there was a push for it.

I just dont know the particulars of this deal, of who makes the decision and I dont know what the chambers been doing on it. But anything that enhances our military presence Im very much for, Wolff said.

Governors from 26 states nominated cities to host the command. Nirenberg said he learned of the development last weekend. Houston and Fort Worth also had been nominated by Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this summer.

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Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said Wednesday that a release announcing criteria for cities seeking to host Space Command was sent out May 15. She said the Air Force had entered the evaluation phase of the selection process and it would select candidates in mid-to late-November. A decision is expected in January, and the new headquarters will take about six years to put in place.

Nirenberg and others see Space Command as a good fit for the citys growing cyber footprint that includes National Security Agency Texas, where thousands work in a sprawling complex off Potranco Road and West Military Drive.

WHAT: U.S. Space Command was established as the eleventh unified combat command in August 2019. It will draw forces from all military branches to oversee operations in space. Its leader reports directly to the defense secretary.

WHERE: Space Command is temporarily headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., with personnel and functions at Peterson AFB and Schriever AFB, Colo., Offutt AFB, Neb, and Vandenberg AFB, Calif. San Antonio is in the running for the permanent headquarters.

WHATS DIFFERENT: Space Command is distinct from and complementary to U.S. Space Force. U.S. Space Force will organize, train, and equip space forces.

SOURCE: U.S. Space Command

How Space Command might interact with those organizations and others isnt yet clear.

San Antonio has 75,000 uniformed and civilian personnel, 235,000 military dependents and 270,000 military retirees and veterans.

The Air Force last year created the 16th Air Force at Lackland, bringing together what one general called the exquisite capabilities America already has harnessed in air, space, cyberspace, electronic warfare and information operations.

The 16th replaced the San Antonio-based 24th and 25th Air Forces and aimed to integrate intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance along with cyber and electronic warfare and information operations in ways that have marked joint operations for decades but do it faster.

San Antonio already is home to several large commands. They include the Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, and Army North, Army South, and the Armys Installation Management Command, all at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston.

The city is home to three major installations and the largest joint base in the United States. Instructor pilots and some fledgling fliers learn their craft at Randolph, while JBSA-Lackland is the longtime home of basic military training, graduating around 39,000 recruits a year.

Fort Sam Houston is the citys oldest installation, dating to 1845 when it was called the Post at San Antonio. Its present-day museum is housed in a National Historic Landmark structure built in the Quadrangle that year.

The U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence at Fort Sam instructs 2,000 to 2,500 combat medics a day and 37,000 trainees a year in varying specialties.

The post also is home to Brooke Army Medical Center, which has a Level 1 trauma center, and the U.S. Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center. Its Center for the Intrepid helps troops and civilians recover from debilitating burn and trauma injuries.

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Perez, a former city councilman, cited Joint Base San Antonio and its big Army, Navy and Air Force contingents as pluses in the citys quest to win either Space Command outright or some component of it.

Nirenberg said hes always viewed the Port San Antonio area as a possible home for the new command, but conceded he didnt know where it might land if the Pentagon picks the Alamo City as the winner.

Still, he said that while conventional wisdom puts Colorado Springs in the pole position, San Antonio not only has assets that give it a good shot but also a rich history one tied deeply to manned space exploration.

The history goes back at least to Airman 1st Class Donald Farrell entering a 3-by-5-foot metal cabin, then at Randolph, on Feb. 9, 1958, and acting as a pilot on a seven-day mock mission to the moon. When it ended, the New York Times described Farrell, 23, of the Bronx as a genuine pioneer.

Years before, Brooks researchers experimented with various types of atmospheres that might be used in a capsule environment. They also conducted psychological studies, putting volunteer airmen from Lackland AFB into low-pressure altitude chambers.

The studies continued into the mid-1960s and once saw a two-man crew spend 17 days in isolation. Early research into sealed chambers used for long-duration mock missions were used for both the Gemini program and futuristic space stations and missions to Mars.

I can go into what the specific assets we have to bring forth, but I think theres some poetry in the way history works. San Antonio was a quiet birthplace for space exploration for the United States generally. Farrell being the threshold we needed to make sure that humans could be safely launched into space, the fact that President Kennedy threw his Cap Over the Wall, figuratively, at Brooks, unfortunately, on the day before he died, Nirenberg said.

But it signified that the modern era of our country conquering space and this is the next step, he added. Weve been there from the start, at every phase, and I think we should be there at the start of this new modern era.

Sig Christenson covers the military and its impact in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Sig, become a subscriber. sigc@express-news.net | Twitter: @saddamscribe

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San Antonio 'in the hunt' to land U.S. Space Command - San Antonio Express-News