Aerospace engineering is

the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science [1] of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronauticalengineering. The former deals with craft that stay within Earth's atmosphere, and the latter with craft that operate outside it. Aerospace Engineering deals with the design, construction, and application of the science behind the forces and physical properties of aircraft, rockets, flying craft, and spacecraft. The field also covers their aerodynamic characteristics and behaviors, airfoil, control surfaces, lift, drag, and other properties. Aerospace engineering is not to be

confused with the various other fields of engineering that go into designing these complex craft. For example, the design of aircraft avionics, while certainly part of the system as a whole, would rather be considered electrical engineering, or perhaps computer engineering. The landing gear system on an aircraft may fall into the field of mechanical engineering, and so forth. It is typically a large combination of many disciplines that makes up aeronautical engineering. While aeronautical engineering was the original term, the broader "aerospace" has superseded it in usage, as flight technology advanced to include craft operating in outer space.[2] Aerospace engineering, particularly the astronautics branch, is referred to colloquially as "rocket science".

ronautics, astronautics, science Activity sectors

engineer Names aerospace engineer

NASA engineers, the ones depicted in the film Apollo 13, worked diligently to protect the lives of the astronauts on the mission.

Aeronautics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Space Shuttle Atlantis on a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

Aeronautics (from Greek r which

means

"air"

and

nautik which means "navigation, seamanship", i.e. "navigation of the air") is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable meaning aircraft.[1] One of the significant parts in aeronautics is a branch of physical science called aerodynamics, which deals with the motion of air and the way that it interacts with objects in motion, such as an aircraft. The term "aviation" is sometimes used interchangeably with aeronautics, although "aeronautics" includes lighter-than-air craft such as airships, and includes ballistic vehicles while "aviation" does not.[1] "sailing machines, the or the referred solely techniques to the of science operating aircraft androcketry within the atmosphere. While the termliterally air"originally of operating the aircraft, it has since been expanded to include technology, business and other aspects related to

Early aviation
First assisted take-off flight by the Wright Brothers, December 17, 1903

While there are many competing claims for the earliest powered, heavier-thanair flight, the most widely-accepted date is December 17, 1903 by the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers were the first to fly in a powered and controlled aircraft. Previous flights were gliders (control but no power) or free flight (power but no control), but the Wright brothers combined both, setting the new standard in aviation records. Following this, the widespread adoption of ailerons versus wing warping made aircraft much easier to control, and only a decade later, at the start of World War I, heavier-than-air powered aircraft had become practical for reconnaissance, artillery spotting, and even attacks against ground positions.

Astronautics
Hubble Space Telescope over Earth (during the STS-109 mission)

Astronautics, and related astronautical engineering, is the theory and practice of navigation beyond the Earth's atmosphere. In other words, it is the science and technology of space flight. The term astronautics was coined by analogy with aeronautics. As there is a certain degree of technology overlapping between the two fields, the

term aerospace is often used to describe them both. As with aeronautics, the restrictions of mass, temperatures, and external forces require that applications in space survive extreme conditions: high-grade vacuum, the radiation bombardment of interplanetary space, the magnetic belts of low Earth orbit. Space launch vehicles must withstand titanic forces, while satellites can experience huge variations in temperature in

very brief periods.[1] Extreme constraints on mass cause astronautical engineers to face the constant need to save mass in the design in order to maximize the actual payload that reaches orbit.

Sub-disciplines
Although many regard Astronautics itself as a rather specialized subject, engineers and scientists working in this area must be knowledgeable about many distinct fields of knowledge. Astrodynamics: the study of orbital motion. Those specializing in this field examine topics such as spacecraft trajectories, ballistics and celestial mechanics. Spacecraft propulsion: how spacecraft change orbits, and how they are launched. Most spacecraft have some variety of rocket engine, and thus most research efforts focus on some variety of rocket propulsion, such as chemical, nuclear propulsion, or electric propulsion. Spacecraft design: a specialized form of systems engineering which centers on combining all the necessary sub-systems for a particularlaunch vehicle or satellite Controls: keeping a satellite or rocket in its desired orbit (as in spacecraft navigation) and orientation (as in attitude control).

Space environment: although more a sub-discipline of Physics rather than Astronautics, the effects of space weather and other environmental issues constitute an increasingly important field of study for spacecraft designers.