No, NASA hasn’t left town and the Saturn V still towers over the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

And, yes, Huntsville is still the "Rocket City."

But the point Mayor Tommy Battle wanted to make Tuesday is that while the Rocket City is still, well, the Rocket City, it’s more than that. And the groundbreaking for the expansion at Navistar was a prime opportunity to tout Huntsville beyond its space legacy.

"The city of Huntsville is known for making propulsion, for making engines," Battle said. "At NASA, we made the SLS rocket, which is going to take men to the moon and, one day, take us to Mars. At (Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama), we've made engines for 2-, 4-, 6-cyclinder automobiles. Here, we make engines that drive trucks for International all over the world.

"We are truly the engine capital of the world."

Related: Navistar plans $125 million Huntsville expansion, 145 new jobs

Indeed, that's a lot of rev in the Rocket City and the zoom is getting more room, too.

Navistar held a ceremonial groundbreaking on a misty morning outside its facility at the Jetplex Industrial Park near Huntsville International Airport. The setting included two International trucks on display in the parking lot and an engine on the inside that celebrated Navistar's 1 millionth built in Huntsville.

The occasion celebrated the $125 million expansion that will add 110,000 square feet to the 300,000 square foot plant that overlooks I-565. The expansion -- scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2023 -- will also create 145 new jobs at what’s formally known as Navistar Diesel of Alabama – more than doubling a workforce of 130 employees already at the plant.

The expansion, the company described in its press release, "will house the production of a fully integrated International big-bore powertrain, developed with Navistar’s global alliance partner TRATON."

“Over the past two decades, the city of Huntsville has been a valuable partner and we are eager to expand our presence here,” Persio Lisboa, Navistar's executive vice president and chief operating officer, said in that press release. “The local skilled workforce has proudly supported the implementation of our product strategy, and we look forward to incorporating some of the most advanced manufacturing standards into our Navistar Diesel of Alabama facility to continue to bring best-in-class products to the market.”

It also marks another peak in Navistar’s comeback after slashing operations in Huntsville in 2014 amid a consolidation effort aimed at saving the company money, dwindling to as few as 60 employees in Huntsville.

Battle recalled those bleak days for Navistar, telling about a trip he and other community leaders made to the company's headquarters in Chicago to offer whatever assistance they could. Their response, Battle said, was to put their head down and plow through to prosperity.

"Because of your work," Battle said of Navistar, "we're going to be able to expand the scope of what we do."

Rick Tucker, CEO of the Port of Huntsville, joined Battle on that trip to Chicago in 2012. And while Navistar has benefited from locating in Huntsville, the Engine Capital of the World has benefited even more, Tucker said.

"It was a great opportunity for (Navistar) as a company but an exceptional opportunity for our community to diversify," he said. "You coming to this community opened the door for us to expand in this industry in a big way.

“It’s a growing part of our diversification and it started with you.”