By Mike Stone

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.N and Lockheed Martin LMT.N, has long lobbied for the Space Command headquarters.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )

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