Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace engineering is associated with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. Originally referred to as Aeronautical Engineering, this term evolved as flight technology developed and started to include craft designed and created for use in space. Aerospace engineering can cross over into the field of vehicle engineering due to the nature and specifics of the designing and implementation involved. Aerospace engineering has two subsections – aeronautical and astronautical engineering. Aeronautical engineering deals with the design of an aircraft and looks at how it is constructed and how it works, identifying how it operates to ensure safe use. Astronautical engineering is responsible for the design, development and testing of craft to be used outside the earth’s atmosphere. Aeronautical engineering is used in areas that deal with aircraft that operates within the earth’s zone, for example the civil services, armed forces and airlines as well as other areas such as government agencies etc. Astronautical engineering deals with craft outside the earth’s atmosphere and is normally involved in the development and research of space shuttles, launch vehicles, rockets etc. This particular branch of engineering helped put Neil Armstrong on the moon!