Aerospace

The aerospace industry continues to attract many people because of its cutting-edge technology and wide range of career opportunities. Aerospace technology has made the world a smaller place. The ability to move humans in flying machines has changed culture, from the way people travel to the way they wage wars. One hundred years ago, multinational companies as we know them today were nonexistent; nowadays, air travel and satellite communications have made them the trend. Air travel and the widespread use of drones has also expanded the threat of foreign attack for every country in the world. Today, citizens of all countries live with the knowledge that they are vulnerable from their skies. Ironically, the same technology that brought about bomber planes and missiles also has more benevolent benefits. Air travel has made it easier for people of widely different cultures to gain a better understanding of each other, thus reducing cultural barriers and the threat of war.

Aerospace also encompasses travel outside of the atmosphere. This field, astronautics, also has benefited humanity in many ways. Research in outer space has produced medical breakthroughs, improved manufacturing processes, and allowed for earlier, more accurate weather prediction, among other benefits.

Although aerospace is a relatively new industry, humans’ desire to fly and to travel into outer space dates back to ancient times. In Greek mythology the master craftsman Daedalus fashioned a pair of wings for his son Icarus to use in his flight to escape from Crete. Among Galileo Galilei’s many contributions during the Scientific Revolution were illustrations of flying machines. But it wasn't until 1903, with the Wright brothers' successful airplane flight, that humans got off the ground and the aerospace industry was born. Orville made the first flight, flying a wood, wire, and cloth airplane a distance of 120 feet. What had begun as a curiosity gathered intense interest as pilots and inventors worked to improve the Wright brothers' design.

By 1911, airplanes were being used in war. At first, airplanes were used mainly for reconnaissance missions, but they were soon adapted for dropping bombs. The recognition of the value of aircraft for warfare led to intense efforts to develop the aerospace industry, and technological advances in aviation design developed at an incredible pace. In 1915, the aerospace industry in the United States was stimulated by the creation of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which would later become NASA. After 1925, private companies began carrying airmail. Engineering improvements, such as the use of wind tunnel testing and engine and airframe design, provided faster, larger, and more durable airplanes.

World War II brought further developments in aircraft. Factories and workers all over the country were mobilized to build the planes needed to fight the war, and the United States developed great expertise in building aircraft. An important innovation to modern air travel, the jet engine, had been developed by the end of the war.

In the decades following World War II, the aerospace industry was one of the most important in the United States. Jet travel had revolutionized the airline industry, opening air travel to millions of people around the world. Apart from the international prestige to be gained by winning the space race, the ongoing threat presented by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union drove the industry's growth. Aerospace contractors could be assured of billions of dollars of new contracts each year; interest in space travel and research was also high.

However, the industry could not continue to develop at such a breakneck pace. The end of the Cold War and increased cooperation in space exploration reduced the need for the federal government to pour great amounts of money into the aerospace industry. Beginning in the 1980s, orders for new aircraft, both military and commercial, began to drop dramatically. The focus of the U.S. aviation industry shifted to developing markets in foreign countries that lagged behind the United States in production and technological capabilities. Research concentrated on safety improvements and quieter, more efficient aircraft.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s and early 1990s created a new reality for the aerospace industry. The immediate threat to national security disappeared, and with it, the need for high levels of spending. Other factors also combined to depress the aerospace industry. After the space shuttle Challenger disaster of 1986, the space program entered a decline. Decisions were made to reduce the reliance on the space shuttle through the 1990s, and NASA's budget was cut. In 2003, a second space shuttle disaster occurred when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated in midair while reentering the Earth's atmosphere. This created further stress on the industry and led to renewed calls for decreases in NASA's budget.

The recession of the early 1990s, coupled with the Persian Gulf War, severely reduced the level of air travel. Meanwhile, a wave of corporate downsizing swept the country, and by the mid-1990s, more than one million management jobs had been eliminated. Because business travel has always been one of the mainstays of the airlines, the aviation industry saw even further reductions in air travel. The deregulation of the airline industry in the early 1980s had also led to the failure of a number of airlines. All of these events meant that fewer orders for new commercial aircraft were being placed with the major aerospace manufacturers. Between 1989 and 1995, more than 500,000 jobs were eliminated.

The aerospace industry recovered slightly in the late 1990s, with 898 jetliner orders in 1996, 940 in 1997, 1,124 in 1998, 776 in 1999, and 1,081 in 2000. Employment also recovered somewhat, but peaked in 1998. The industry began to experience another decline due to several factors, including the Asian financial crises, foreign outsourcing for engines and parts, competition with the European manufacturer Airbus, and a struggling economy. Airlines began to lose money as air travel declined in the first half of 2001. Orders for new aircraft severely declined and layoffs affected thousands of workers.

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks caused a steep decline in commercial flight and orders for new commercial aircraft. Although the industry rebounded slightly in the years following the attacks, the economic recession in the final years of the 21st century's first decade took a considerable toll on the industry. By the late 2010s, conditions had improved and the industry was on stronger footing, despite a few challenging years during the pandemic. According to a 2024 report from McKinsey & Company, new aircraft orders totaled about 15,700, its highest point. The consulting firm says that "filling the record-high open-order backlog would take 13 years at 2023 delivery rates." One potential challenge was that the industry's vast network of suppliers could have a difficult time keeping up with aircraft manufacturers' higher production, increasing the need for stronger supply chains and greater efficiency and productivity.

Safety was a pressing concern heading into the 2020s. In October 2018, 189 passengers were killed when a Boeing 737 Max 8 (Lion Air flight JT 610) crashed into the Java Sea. A crash involving the same type of aircraft (Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 to Nairobi, Kenya) claimed another 157 lives in March 2019, prompting countries around the world to ground the aircraft as investigations unfolded. After fixing the software pertaining to the aircraft's anti-stall system, the 737 Max 8 is back in service. Boeing's safety issues have continued. In January 2024, a Boeing 737 Max 9 passenger jet lost a rear door plug in midflight, and the FAA grounded similarly configured 737 Max 9 aircraft for weeks. It also announced that it would audit the Boeing 737 Max 9 production line and its suppliers. Additionally, in 2024 two NASA astronauts were transported to the International Space Station on Boeing’s Starliner capsule on its initial run to the station, but were not able to return to Earth via the Starliner capsule because of malfunctioning thrusters and leaking helium.

The beginnings of astronautics, which later would become NASA's focus, followed closely on the heels of the airplane in the early part of the 20th century. Astronautics, the science of space flight, soon revolutionized not only modern warfare but also humanity's vision of its place in the universe. Beginning with the ideas of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian schoolteacher who theorized that a rocket fueled by liquid propellants could be operated in space, the American Robert Goddard and the German Hermann Oberth developed the first liquid-propellant rockets. Goddard launched the first such rocket in 1926, with a flight that reached about 41 feet, landing 184 feet from its launch site. Soon after World War II, the Soviets launched the first successful spacecraft, Sputnik, in 1957, and the space age began.

The United States responded by creating NASA and stepping up efforts to develop craft capable of carrying humans into space. Throughout the Cold War, the space race continued, leading to the landing of the first man on the moon in 1969. The two countries saw the dedication of enormous amounts of resources to the development of ever more sophisticated technology, including conventional, nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, air and naval craft, and surveillance, intelligence, communications, and computer technology.

Much of the technology developed initially for defense has been adapted for commercial and civil use. Today, the majority of the work performed by NASA in space is directed at improving understanding of many biological, chemical, meteorological, and other scientific processes that can then be implemented for promoting the health and welfare of all. Developments such as the reusable space shuttle and the space station, a permanent orbiting laboratory in space, have renewed ambitions toward living and working in space. In 1998, construction started on the International Space Station. The United States, Russia, and 13 other countries have combined technology and manpower to build, expand, and maintain an international space station. The ISS has become the largest, most sophisticated, and most powerful spacecraft ever built. (For information on the experiments being conducted, crew members, and other facts about the ISS, visit https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station).

Some of the major growth areas in the aerospace industry are artificial intelligence (especially generative AI), sustainability, and advanced manufacturing. "Generative AI, through generative design, can be critical in delivering more opportunities for creating energy-efficient designs and low-carbon products," according to the "2024 Aerospace and Defense Industry Outlook," from Deloitte. "Beyond product development, generative AI–enabled virtual field assistants can support engineers by improving their problem-solving capabilities and productivity."

The aerospace industry is currently developing innovative designs and sustainable propulsion technologies in response to client and consumer interest in lower emissions for aircraft and to meet the "big picture" goal of achieving net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 (since the United States is a signatory of the Paris Agreement). "The demand for reduced and zero-emission aviation is likely to drive the growth momentum for electric, hybrid, hydrogen, and even solar-powered propulsion technologies in the coming year," according to Deloitte.

Concerns about the environment, a need to reduce costs and increase productivity, and other factors have prompted aerospace companies to embrace advanced manufacturing, which can be defined as cutting-edge technologies and work processes that are used to improve efficiency and production quality, increase flexibility and responsiveness to market demands, generate added value, and achieve other goals. Workers in this field use tools such as AI, digital design and prototyping, Big Data, data analytics, virtual and augmented reality, digital twins, advanced robotics, and the Internet of Things, as well as nontraditional manufacturing techniques such as additive manufacturing, computer numerical control machining, sustainability manufacturing, roll-to-roll manufacturing, and nanotechnology.