Expert: Paul Soderman - 2/3/2010

Question
what is the difference between aeronautics and aerospace engineering

Answer
Aeronautical engineering is the study of flight in air.  Aerospace engineering is the study of flight in air and space.  In reality, they are very similar in terms of academic programs.  An aerospace program should offer a few courses in orbital mechanics or rocket propulsion.  But 95% of each program deal with the physics of movement through air.  The other aspect of the two terms relates to political posturing - most schools and industries want to be aligned with big programs like NASA's space program rather than smaller programs like aircraft development.  From an engineering standpoint, I wouldn't worry about the differences in the two terms.