When was aerospace engineering founded

During the Gemini program, Ed White, who later died in the Apollo launch pad fire, made the first spacewalk by an American. View the recorded panel discussions and presentations from the Centennial Celebration that took place September 18thth, Skip to primary navigation Skip to main content Skip to footer.

First courses Under the direction of Pawlowski, the first courses at the University, proved to be so popular that it was necessary to extend and correlate them as one of the regular group of electives. Research Research became increasingly important in the development of the department. The Department Grows These experiments in flight, the research on airplane designs, and the basic course work were all marked with camaraderie and a shared commitment to expanding the knowledge and possibilities of this exciting new field.

Celebrating a century of Aerospace. Early courses in Aeronautics published in Anecdotal history of the first 50 years published in Anecdotal history of the first 75 years published in Summary of department activities in A Century of Engineering Education published in Aerospace Bulletins Aerospace Bulletins CICE Bulletins IE Bulletins The department moved to its current home in Talbot Laboratory late in Research work in aerospace engineering now is conducted in over 30 departmental and interdisciplinary laboratories across campus.

Stillwell served as Department Head for 32 years, from to His leadership was followed by that of Harry H. The prototypes are followed by the B2, representative of the initial production version. July 27, - First test flight of the F Eagle.

July 23, - Landsat 1: the first U. January 5, - NASA announces the space shuttle program. November 13, - Mariner 9: First mission to orbit another planet arrived Mars. September 3, - The Concorde makes its first transatlantic crossing. April 19, - Salyut 1 becomes the first manned Space laboratory. April , - Apollo Mission aborted after loss of oxygen pressure; crew used lunar module as lifeboat to return to Earth Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Jack Swigert, command module pilot.

January - The Boeing jumbo is put into passenger service, in its initial form, on Pan American's New York-London route, the type having first flown in February At p. January 16, - First docking of two manned spacecraft in orbit, Soyuz 4 and 5.

October 18, - Venera 4 makes the first controlled descent on Venus. October 3, - X experimental aircraft sets speed record at 4, mph. April 25, - Air Force Col. August 14, - The Lunar Orbiter 1 was the first U.

June 2, - Surveyor 1 makes the first US soft landing on the Moon. February 3, - Luna 9 makes the first soft landing on the Moon. November 16, - The launch of Soviet Venera 3, the first object to impact on Venus. July 14, - Mariner 4: First flyby of Mars. March 18, - Alexei Leonov takes first walk in space. May 4, - Jacqueline Cochran established the official world speed record for women in a Lockheed FG Starfighter, average speed 1, April 11, - Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to pilot a plane around-the-world successfully.

March 19, - Geraldine Mock, in a Cessna , becomes the first woman to fly around the world. July 26, - Syncom II, the world's first geosynchronous satellite was launched.

June 16, - Russian Cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, becomes the first woman to solo in space. May 8, - Telstar II relays first color television broadcast. January 9, - First TV program transmitted by satellite. November 27, - First flight of Boeing July 13, - First telephone conversation is relayed by satellite between the US and Europe. July 10, - Telstar 1: NASA launched first privately built satellite for communications which relays the first live television pictures between the US and Europe.

October 27, - First flight test of the Saturn 1 launch vehicle. May 5, - Freedom 7: First U. April 12, - Vostok I: First human being Maj. Yuri Gagarin to travel in space by completing one full orbit of the earth.

January 31, - A three-year-old chimpanzee named Ham rocketed into space on the MR-2 program. April 1, - Tiros I: First weather satellite launched. Scott Crossfield becomes the first to pilot the fastest and highest flying aircraft in history, the rocket powered X March 3, - Pioneer 4: First successful U.

February 28, - Discover 1: The first polar orbiting satellite is launched. January 2, - The USSR's Luna 1 launched and became the first man-made object to escape Earth and orbit the Sun December 19, - First transmission and reception of a human voice from space. Quesada as the first administrator.

October 1, - NASA becomes operational. March 17, - Vanguard 1: First solar powered satellite is launched. January 31, - Explorer I: First U. It is generally credited with ushering in the Jet Age. It enters service in October with Pan American World Airways, becoming the first successful jet airliner to enter passenger service. November 3, - Sputnik II is launched carrying the dog "Laika. September 20, - The first successful launch of a Thor rocket, the predecessor of today's Boeing-built Delta launch vehicle.

January , - First jet flight around the world. November, - First Boeing made its test flight. Scott Crossfield reached the aviation milestone of Mach 2 twice the speed of sound or more than 1, miles per hour in the DII Skyrocket. August 28, - American Airlines flies 10,, passenger-miles today, setting a new single-day mileage record for all airlines.

July 26, - Two monkeys and two mice are recovered alive and unharmed after being fired to approximately , ft. Guy M. Townsend of the U. Air Force flight test center. Blair makes the first single-engined plane flight across the North Pole in his F "Mustang" - The Atlas rocket by Convair was the first liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of more than 5, miles November 1, - The U.

Navy announces development of an automatic pilot for helicopters. Army Field Forces, completes its first flight test. July 27, - The first flight of the prototype DeHavilland Comet, the first commercial jet aircraft. February, - The U. Air Force conducts tests of a special ft. January 5, - Capt. Charles E. Yeager sets a new unofficial climbing speed record of more than 13, ft. Air Force 56th Fighter Group land in Stornway, Scotland, marking the first west-to-east Atlantic crossing by jet aircraft.

June 26, - The Berlin airlift begins by the U. June 10, - The Air Force makes its supersonic flights public. March, - The U. Air Force announces the dropping of the world's largest bomb, weighing 21 tons, from a B bomber in a test flight at Muroc Air Force Base, California. January 30, - Orville Wright collapses in his laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, and dies at the age of November 26, - First successful hypersonic-flow wind tunnel 11 inch placed into operation at Langley Laboratory.

October 14, - Capt. Yeager flies faster than sound for the first time in the rocket powered Bell X June 12, - Boeing Aircraft's new B bomber rolls off a final assembly line in Seattle, Washington. April 27, - United Airlines introduces the Douglas DC-6 aircraft, the first postwar aircraft to feature full-cabin pressurization. August 6, - Two B bombers, minus pilot and crews, are flown nonstop from Hilo, Hawaii to Muroc Lake, California, controlled entirely by radio.

March 27, - The U. March 22, - The WAC, the first American-built rocket to actually leave the Earth's atmosphere, reaches an altitude of 50 miles. March 12, - The first commercial helicopter license issued by the U. August 6, - A U. B bomber, the "Enola Gay," piloted by Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. May 8, - The War in Europe ends with the collapse of Germany. March 29, - Final wartime V2 rocket launched. January 20, - Robert T. Jones formulates the swept wing to overcome shockwave effects.

Floyd B. Wood, Major Harry Wexler, and Lt. Frank Record, flying in a Douglas A "Havoc," successfully carry out the first attempt to fly into the heart of a hurricane to obtain valuable scientific data. September 8, - The V-2 became the first combat ballistic missile used by Germany against England. June 6, D-Day - A gigantic sky-train, nine planes wide and miles long, carries American and British air-borne troops across the English Channel for invasion of Europe.

January 8, - The U. January 7, - The U. Army Air Forces announces development and production of its first jet-propelled fighter airplane, the Bell P "Airacomet". Creating an airlift presented the USAAF a considerable challenge in it had no units trained or equipped for moving cargo, and no airfields existed in the China Burma India Theater CBI for basing the large number of transports that would be needed.

Flying over the Himalayas was extremely dangerous and made more difficult by a lack of reliable charts, an absence of radio navigation aids, and a dearth of information about the weather. The "Hump" airlifts were accomplished by thousands of fliers and ground support personnel who often endured stifling heat and monsoon rains, living in tents and bamboo huts for years. Many aircraft crashed in the mountains or jungles and many crews perished in this forgotten theater of WWII.

January, - Franklin D. Roosevelt boarded a Boeing flying boat in Miami, Florida, and became the first chief executive to make a wartime flight while in office. November 15, - The first women ever to be flight trained by the Army Air Forces report for flight training in Texas and take Oath.

October 3, - First successful test flight of the V-2 rocket. July 19, - The Messerschmitt , the world's first, operational jet-powered fighter, takes to the air with Fritz Wendel at the controls. May 14, - The U. Fleet and destroying the majority of military aircraft at Hickman Field.

December 1, - The Civil Air Patrol is established. October 24, - The first successful true "flying wing," developed by Northrop Aircraft, Inc. September 5, - Nine U. July 19, - The Tuskegee Airmen, the first black fighter squadron in the United States armed forces, is formed.

July 1, - Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to ferry the Lockheed Hudson bomber across the Atlantic. June 20, - The U. Army Air Force is formed. April 16, - Igor I. Sikorsky sets a national helicopter record by hovering virtually motionless over a Stratford, Connecticut airport, for 1 hour, 5 minutes. September 8, - A puncture-proof gasoline tank is tested at Wright Field, Ohio. July 8, - The first flight of the Boeing Stratoliner, the first airliner with a pressurized cabin.

This allowed the plane to fly up to 20, feet, avoiding turbulence. July 3, - Northrop introduces the N-1M Flying Wing, the first flying wing airplane with pilot, engine, and fuselage in a single airfoil structure. March 26, - Commercial airlines of the United States complete today a full year of flying without a fatal accident or serious injury to a passenger or crew member.

March 25, - The Army and Navy agree to stand aside to give France and Britain virtually unhindered access to the latest models of American warplanes, releasing to the Allies over planes now under construction. The History of Flight from Around the World s - The Link Trainer, the first electro-mechanical flight simulator, was invented.

Congress, to Orville Wright and, posthumously, to his brother Wilbur. March 9, - Col. Charles A. Lindbergh inaugurates the first direct mail route to Mexico City, carrying 13 passengers on a trip from Brownsville, Texas. August - Several small solid-propellant rockets were attached to a Junkers seaplane and the first jet-assisted airplane takeoff was recorded. August , - Commanded by Captain Hugo Eckener, the Graf Zeppelin accomplishes the first around-the-world flight by a dirigible.

September 24, - James H. Doolittle becomes the first to fly entirely by use of instruments and radio aids from takeoff to landing without reference to the ground.

March - Ten men of the U. June - Friedrich Stamer, as pilot, achieved the first manned flight in a rocket-powered glider. Stamer flew about one mile. During these early years, only one-third to one-half of the Guggenheim endowment income was allotted to research.

To better reflect the School's expanding interests and responsibilities beyond the field of aeronautics, its name was officially changed to the School of Aerospace Engineering effective July 1, This step was consistent with the changes made by other Guggenheim grantees throughout the United States.

The GT-AE history lives on in the Guggenheim Building, which has 12, square-feet of classrooms, offices, and laboratories.