Editing Huntsville, Alabama (section)

===Military and NASA involvement===
By 1940, Huntsville was still relatively small, with a population of about 13,000 inhabitants. This quickly changed in early 1941 when the [[U.S. Army]] selected {{convert|35000|acre|km2}} of land adjoining the southwest area of the city for building three [[chemical munitions]] facilities: the [[Huntsville Arsenal]], the Redstone Ordnance Plant (soon redesignated Redstone Arsenal), and the Gulf Chemical Warfare Depot. These operated throughout [[World War II]], with combined personnel approaching 20,000. Resources in the area were strained as new workers flocked to the area, and the construction of housing could not keep up.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Michael E. |title=Redstone Arsenal: yesterday and today |publisher=[[U.S. Army Missile Command]] |year=1993 |location=Redstone Arsenal, Alabama}}</ref>

At the end of the war in 1945, the munitions facilities were no longer needed. They were combined with the designation Redstone Arsenal (RSA), and a considerable political and business effort was made in attempts to attract new tenants. One significant start involved manufacturing the [[Keller (automobile)|Keller automobile]], but this closed after 18 vehicles were built. With the encouragement of US Senator [[John Sparkman]] (D-AL), the [[U.S. Army Air Force]] considered this for a major testing facility, but selected another site. Redstone Arsenal was prepared for disposal, but Sparkman used his considerable Southern Democratic influence (the [[Solid South]] controlled numerous powerful chairmanships of congressional committees) to persuade the Army to choose it as a site for rocket and missile development.<ref name=":3" />

As the [[Korean War]] started, the Ordnance Guided Missile Center (OGMC) was given the mission to develop what eventually became the [[PGM-11 Redstone|Redstone Rocket]]. This rocket set the stage for the [[United States' space program]], as well as major Army missile programs, to be centered in Huntsville. Brigadier General [[Holger Toftoy]] commanded OGMC and the overall Redstone Arsenal. In early 1956, the [[Army Ballistic Missile Agency]] (ABMA) under Major General [[John Bruce Medaris|John Medaris]] was formed.<ref name=":3" />

In 1950, about 1,000 personnel were transferred from [[Fort Bliss]], Texas, to Redstone Arsenal to form the Ordnance Guided Missile Center (OGMC). Central to this was a group of about 200 German scientists and engineers, led by [[Wernher von Braun]]; they had been brought from [[Nazi Germany]] to the United States by Colonel Holger Toftoy under [[Operation Paperclip]] following World War II. Assigned to the center at Huntsville, they settled and raised families.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Laney |first=Monique |title=German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past During the Civil Rights Era |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-300-21345-4 |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut]] |language=en |oclc=910553920}}</ref>

[[File:USSRC Rocket Park.JPG|thumb|left|Historic rockets in [[Rocket Park]] of the [[U.S. Space & Rocket Center]], Huntsville, Alabama]]
The city is nicknamed "The Rocket City" for its close association with U.S. space missions.<ref>{{cite web |first=Marcia |last=Dunn |url=https://www.apnews.com/d4c8b31ad3d245d8b5a71b2b4eaa9a21 |title=Rocket City, Alabama: Space history and an eye on the future |publisher=Associated Press |date=August 6, 2018}}</ref> On January 31, 1958, ABMA placed America's first satellite, [[Explorer 1]], into orbit using a [[Jupiter-C]] launch vehicle, a descendant of the Redstone. This brought national attention to Redstone Arsenal and Huntsville, with widespread recognition of this being a major center for high technology.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bracker |first1=Milton |title=Roars Up in Florida Tense 15 3/4 Seconds After It Is Fired Jupiter-C Rocket Bearing Nation's First Satellite Is Launched by Army in Florida – Device Goes Up With Great Roar – Weight of 80-Inch Satellite Is 30.8 Pounds — Rocket's Final Stage Is 12.67 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1958/02/01/83392619.html?pageNumber=1 |access-date=August 29, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=February 1, 1958}}</ref>

On July 1, 1960, 4,670 civilian employees, associated buildings and equipment, and {{convert|1840|acre|km2}} of land were transferred from ABMA to form [[NASA]]'s [[George C. Marshall Space Flight Center]] (MSFC). Wernher von Braun was MSFC's initial director. On September 8, President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] formally dedicated the MSFC.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last1=Dunar |first1=Andrew J. |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4313.pdf |title=Power to Explore: A History of Marshall Space Flight Center 1960-1990 |last2=Waring |first2=Stephen P. |publisher=[[NASA]] |year=1999 |location=Washington, D.C. |language=en}}</ref>

During the 1960s, the major mission of MSFC was in developing the [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn boosters]] used by NASA in the [[Apollo program|Apollo Lunar Landing Program]]. For this, MSFC greatly increased its employees, and many new companies joined the Huntsville industrial community. The [[Cummings Research Park]] was developed just north of Redstone Arsenal to partially accommodate this industrial growth, and has now become the second-largest research park of this type in America.<ref name=":4" />

Huntsville was selected as the permanent home of the United States [[Space Operations Command]] in 2020, but in 2023 the Pentagon announced that the temporary headquarters would be expanded and remain in Colorado.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/us/politics/huntsville-space-command-colorado-springs.html|title=The Loss of Space Command Headquarters Brings an Alabama City Down to Earth |newspaper = The New York Times |date=August 5, 2023 |access-date= August 5, 2023}}</ref>