At a height of 6,035 feet, Peterson Space Force Base is situated near Colorado Springs, where it shares runways with the Colorado Springs Airport. The 111 mission partners supported by Space Base Delta 1, which is based at Peterson SFB, include the 302nd Airlift Wing, U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Space Command, and North American Aerospace Defense Command (Reserve). The Colorado Springs Army Air Base, which was founded on April 28, 1942, was based at the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, which had been operational since 1926. This is where Peterson SFB got its start. On December 13, 1942, the base was given the new name Peterson Army Air Base, better known as Peterson Field, in memory of the late 1st Lt. Edward J. Peterson.

The facility, built as a World War II air support base for Camp Carson, supplied Cold War air defense headquarters at the neighboring Ent Air Force Base, Chidlaw Building, and Cheyenne Mountain Complex. It also served as a training ground for the Army Air Forces. Since the 2006 Cheyenne Mountain Realignment put the nearby Cheyenne Mountain Complex centers on standby, the site has served as the NORAD/NORTHCOM command center. It served as the Air Force Space Command headquarters from 1987 to 20 December 2019.

In order to better reflect its prominent position within the new space service, the installation was renamed Peterson Space Force Base on July 26, 2021. Colorado military construction during the expansion of US training facilities before the bombing of Pearl Harbor included the 1940 Lowry bombardier school in Denver and Camp Carson south of Colorado Springs (HQ completed on 31 January 1942). Sites "near Colorado Springs" were evaluated for potential USAAF airfields in the summer of 1941, and in April 1942, the Photographic Reconnaissance Operational Training Unit (PROTU) was created in a rented building.

Following the formation of Air Defense Command at Ent Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, which is today the site of the USA Olympic Training Center, in January 1951, the Air Force once more activated Peterson Field.

The 4600th Air Base Group was first predesignated as the 46th Aerospace Defense Wing on April 1, 1975, after being designated as the 4600th Air Base Wing in 1958. Peterson Field was renamed Peterson AFB on March 1st, 1976. The 46th Aerospace Defense Wing was disbanded on April 1 of the same year, while the 1st Space Wing was established on January 1 of that year. On October 15, 1986, the 3rd Space Support Wing was activated. The 21st Space Wing was created on May 15, 1992, and these two wings were transferred to it. On July 22, 2020, the 21st Space Wing was reconfigured to become a part of Space Base Delta 1. In July 2021, Peterson AFB changed its name to Peterson Space Force Base.

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