Aerojet Rocketdyne expansion creates 70 new jobs in Mississippi
Published 7:00 am Wednesday, July 20, 2016
From left to right: Glenn McCullough, Jr., Mississippi Development Authority; Senator Roger Wicker, U.S. Senator; Senator Thad Cochran, U.S. Senator; John Shumacher, Aerojet Rocketdyne; and Tyler Evans, Aerojet Rocketdyne announce the expansion of the Aerojet Rocketdyne facility at NASA’s Stennis Space Center.
Submitted Photo
Aerojet Rocketdyne recently announced an expansion of their facility at NASA’s Stennis Space Center.
The expansion will add about 70 jobs, bringing the total to at least 200 Aerojet Rocketdyne employees at the center, states a press release from the company.
“We are recruiting engine assembly and test mechanics, instrumentation technicians and various engineering specialties,” said Aerojet Rocketdyne spokesman Glenn Mahone in an emailed statement.
In the release, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker said the expansion “will strengthen our nation’s aerospace industry and bring more good-paying jobs to the Gulf Coast. Establishing this new Center of Excellence is vital to reducing our reliance on foreign-made rocket engines.”
The company will be assembling and testing its AR1 advance liquid rocket engines to be used for national security space launches in 2019, states the release.
“The AR1 engine is leapfrogging ahead of the technology used on the Russian RD-180 engine,” which is currently used for national security space missions, said Mahone.
“I am very pleased to announce our plans for expansion of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s presence in Mississippi,” said Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and President Eileen Drake in a press release. “We have had a long history of partnering with Stennis to power the nation into space. Assembly and testing of the AR1 at NASA Stennis adds to that legacy.”
Aerojet Rocketdyne is working on the RS-68 engines using the Delta IV rockets as well as the new RS-25 engines, which will be used to power the new Space Launch System.
“This is the engine that will enable the first human footprints on Mars. We are very excited to be testing the RS-25 engines at NASA Stennis again,” said Mahone.
Aerojet Rocetkyne received a contract from NASA last year to restart production of the RS-25 engine, said Mahone.
“Mississippi’s long partnership with U.S. space agencies and the industry has led to advances in science, technology and national security,” said U.S. Senator Thad Cochran.
Drake also said the expansion will “solidify NASA’s Stennis Space Center as the nation’s premier rocket engine test facility.”
