Aerospace engineering

Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering.

Aeronautical engineering was the original term for the field, but as flight technology advanced to include craft operating in outer space, the broader term "aerospace engineering" has largely replaced it in common usage. Aerospace engineering, particularly the astronautics branch, is often incorrectly referred to as "rocket science".