Carol L. Cook
“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” When the Apollo 11 crewmen set foot on the surface of the moon, the world’s attention was drawn to one of America’s largest and most rapidly developing industries. But, exploration in space is only a small part of this field. The Aerospace Industry is concerned mainly with the planning and manufacturing of new and better spacecraft for exploration of the universe, aircraft for civilian transport and the military services, and missiles for national defense. But, the industry has also improved other things, too. For instance, it pushes for constant improvement in ways we can predict the weather. It certainly has increased our knowledge of our world, and certainly the capacities of our bodies in relations to flying and to space.
About 1,703,000 men and women work in the Aerospace Industry and perhaps, no other field employs such diverse talents. Because of the great emphasis on research and development, about 25% of those who work in aerospace are engineers, scientists and technicians—a higher percentage than in most other industries.