The state commission that runs the U.S. Space and Rocket Center has an updated name to match the times.

Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill Monday at the space center that renames the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center Commission – giving the 18-member body, “the proper name it deserves,” Ivey said.

“This is where our state’s legacy in space comes to life, and where our future continues to launch forward,” the governor said.

The legislation also clarifies that the governor is an ex officio, nonvoting member, in line with the practice of modern state commissions, legislators said at a February hearing. It further codifies that the center may enter public and private partnerships where feasible, which Ivey said would provide the center, “more flexibility to innovate and expand.”

Kimberly Robinson, director of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, said the groundwork laid in the 1960s to establish the commission via statewide referendum and the exhibits that became the Space and Rocket Center has paid off time and again for north Alabama.

Luminaries like Wernher von Braun, Bear Bryant and Gen. John Zierdt, “envisioned a place that would preserve the artifacts from our country’s successes [in space], they envisioned a place that would celebrate the work of thousands of engineers and laborers that did the impossible, and they envisioned a place that would inspire a new generation to continue that work,” she said.

That vision became the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, in partnership with the state of Alabama through capital funding and operational support and advising. The center has welcomed over 17 million guests and graduated over 1 million Space Camp attendees, Robinson said.

Ivey noted “a lot of talk” has been circulating about space. Last week, she met with President Donald Trump as he visited to give a speech to University of Alabama graduates.

“Space was certainly a part of our conversation,” Ivey said Monday. “Alabama is the rightful home of Space Command, and it’s because of places like the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, where our unmatched legacy in the final frontier meets [a] bold vision for the future.”