Blue Origin to Break Ground on Engine Facility in Cummings Research Park.

Blue Origin will break ground Friday on its 200,000 square-foot engine manufacturing facility in Huntsville’s Cummings Research Park. The event is invitation only.

Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, will manufacture the BE-4 engine in the state-of-the-art facility. The engine will lift the Vulcan rocket, made in Decatur by United Launch Alliance. The BE-4 will end the nation’s dependence on Russian rockets.

Two BE-4s would be used on the Vulcan booster rocket. The BE-4 will also power Blue Origin’s New Glenn reusable launch system with seven BE-4s on the reusable first stage and a vacuum-optimized BE-4U on New Glenn’s second stage.

The $200 million engine plant is expected to employ about 340 people.