Aerospace Engineers

The roots of aerospace engineering can be traced as far back as when people first dreamed of being able to fly. Thousands of years ago, the Chinese developed kites and later experimented with gunpowder as a source of propulsion. In the 15th century, artist Leonardo da Vinci created drawings of two devices designed to fly. One, the ornithopter, was supposed to fly the way birds do by flapping its wings; the other was designed as a rotating screw, closer in form to today's helicopter.

In 1783, Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier of France designed the first hot-air balloon that could be used for manned flight. In 1799, an English baron, Sir George Cayley, designed an aircraft that was one of the first not to be considered "lighter than air," as balloons were. He developed a fixed-wing structure that led to his creation of the first glider in 1849. Much experimentation was performed in gliders and the science of aerodynamics through the late 1800s. In 1903, the first mechanically powered and controlled flight was completed in a craft designed by Orville and Wilbur Wright.

The big boost in airplane development occurred during World War I. In the early years of the war, aeronautical engineering encompassed a variety of engineering skills applied to the development of flying machines. Civil engineering principles were used in structural design, while automobile engineers devised early airplane engines. The aerodynamic design was primarily empirical, with many answers from liquid flow concepts established in marine engineering.

The evolution of the airplane continued during both world wars, with steady technological developments in materials science, propulsion, avionics, and stability and control. Airplanes became larger and faster. Although airplanes are commonplace today, commercial flight became a frequent mode of transportation only as recently as the 1960s and 1970s.

The American scientist Robert Goddard developed and flew the first liquid-propelled rocket in 1926. The technology behind liquid propulsion continued to evolve, and the first U.S. liquid rocket engine was tested in 1938. More sophisticated rockets were eventually created to enable aircraft to be launched into space. The world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, was launched by the Soviets in 1957. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy urged the United States to be the first country to put a man on the moon; on July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr. accomplished that goal.

Today, aerospace engineers design spacecraft that explore beyond the Earth's atmosphere. They create missiles and military aircraft of many types, such as fighters, bombers, observers, and transports. Aerospace engineers have played important roles in designing spacecraft and equipment for the International Space Station that orbits the Earth, sending probes to the surface of Mars in 2003, 2005, and 2011, and creating the next generation of manned spacecraft, Orion, which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched on a two-orbit test flight on December 5, 2014.

In 2024, NASA was preparing to send four astronauts around the moon for the first time in almost 50 years as part of the eight-day Artemis 2 lunar mission. This was a precursor to the Artemis 3 mission, which would involve a crewed moon landing in 2025.