The growth of space companies makes this “the most exciting time” to get involved in the industry, but one CEO says private and government organizations need to do more to tap the next generation of American workers.
“I think there are opportunities for everyone to participate in the excitement … [and] It’s a great opportunity for the government to really lean on the search for those public-private partnerships, ” Steve Isakowitz, CEO of The Aerospace Corporation and former president of Virgin Galactic, told America’s Future Series Space Innovation Summit attendees . on April 6 and 7.
“We need to do more and expand the candidate pool – we need to make sure that all of America has the benefit of being part of the STEM, K-12, opportunities out there,” he added, referring to the academic discipline that science is. , technology, engineering and mathematics.
The Aerospace Corporation, based in El Segundo, California, is a government-funded research and development center and non-profit.
The company focuses on analysis and assessment of space programs for organizations including NASA, the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, and the National Reconnaissance Office.
Isakowitz’s comments coincided with the publication by The Aerospace Corp of a report entitled “Developing Future Space Workers.” From the report, he stressed that he believes the aerospace industry can work with teachers and under-represented groups.
“I think that means you really have to look at the curriculum we’re teaching our students in to pique their interest. We often see that when you go to elementary schools, there’s a lot of interest in these fields and the engineering fields – and then it kind of drops off pretty quickly when they go to high school in high school, ”said Isakowitz.
In addition to more collaboration with educators, he said the industry should “redefine a little bit of the space orbit itself in terms of how we think about training.”
Isakowitz emphasized that internships, apprenticeships and scholarships have been essential to bring in students and give them practical experience.
Some programs like this exist, such as The Brooke Owens Fellowship, which helps place undergraduate women in space companies, or the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, which helps black students find internships.
Isakowitz also stressed the importance of space agencies to expand the definition of what it means to make an impact in the industry.
He gave the example of his previous job, saying that every morning there was a whiteboard on the doors of the factory with little sayings – like ‘today a big day’ or ‘great work, everyone, on the test’ – on it, but no of his colleagues knew who wrote the encouragement.
After “doing some detective work,” Isakowitz said he found out that “it was a young woman from the janitor who would come in at night.
“You don’t have to be the head of the organization or the chief engineer to feel like you are part of something bigger,” he said.
Space Talent, a job database of investment group Space Capital, shows more than 3,600 job openings at space infrastructure companies, that is, companies building spacecraft, rockets and more.
Those job openings span a range of disciplines from accounting to IT, design, manufacturing and more.
A wave of investment over the past decade has spawned a new generation of private space companies, led by the likes of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The private sector “is really driving a lot of the changes we’re seeing in the space right now,” Isakowitz said, with the benefit of “a new ability to attract the kind of talent and enthusiasm we need to really get people into this industry. “
While he and Aerospace Corp see that more work needs to be done to create opportunities, Isakowitz said his company is “hiring people outside the industry” and is looking for more ways to partner with educators.