Because Space Command's temporary home was already in Colorado Springs, elected officials and space-industry professionals across the state had been pushing hard to keep the headquarters here. The City of Aurora had also tried to land Space Command, at Buckley Air Force Base, but that option didn't make the cut as a finalist. After the Air Force conducted tours of the six locations named as finalists, military leaders said they'd settled on Peterson, local officials contend. The site was logical for a variety of reasons. Since the provisional headquarters of Space Command was at Peterson, significant infrastructure was already in place there. In fact, from 1985 to 2002, the first version of Space Command had been based at Peterson, too, before the George W. Bush administration shut it down. Add to that history the fact that Colorado already has a robust aerospace economy, and Colorado Springs seemed like a lock.