Colorado Springs, city in central Colorado and seat of El Paso County, on Monument and Fountain creeks. Situated on a plateau at the foot of Pikes Peak, Colorado Springs is a year-round health and tourist resort. The city is a center for high-technology manufacturing, with firms producing semiconductors and computer hardware and software. Beginning in the mid-1980s, major computer and electronic communications manufacturers located in Colorado Springs, causing dramatic growth in the city's population.
The city's economy relies heavily on activities related to the military. Concentrated around Colorado Springs are headquarters and operational units of military space commands: Peterson Air Force Base, headquarters of the North American Air Defense Command and the United States Space Command; Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base, a hollowed-out mountain southwest of downtown Colorado Springs, housing the control center for detection of aircraft, missile, or space attack against North America; and Falcon Air Force Base, which controls the U.S. Department of Defense satellite system. Also nearby is Fort Carson, a large training facility.
