Message from the NAR President
Fellow NAR Member,
Last week I attended the 2025 STEM Workforce Summit, hosted by NASA at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. NASA brought together representatives from the aerospace industry, primary and secondary education, community colleges, universities, NASA Space Grant administrators, and others who are associated with STEM learning. Over the course of two and a half days we met and heard from many speakers about their role in educating our future aerospace workforce. One of the key messages was that careers in aerospace are not just for aerospace engineers, but also there is a short-and long-term need for skilled technical workers who have hands on experience in skills such as machining, welding, plumbing, electrical and mechanical construction, heavy equipment operation, and other technical fields. Additionally, there is a need for many other disciplines in the aerospace industries such as technical writers, communication specialists, medical personnel, seamstresses (parachutes and space suits don’t sew themselves), and clothing designers to name a few. Career technical education (CTE) programs have and continue to meet the challenge of educating this technical workforce. There are some community colleges in the United States that are doing an awesome job at supporting the educational needs for certifications, skills training, and college credit programs that are timely and able to pivot quickly to meet new needs for local industries.
Did you know that technicians who fabricate optical lenses are in very high demand and starting salaries for certified workers exceeds $150k?
Certainly, astronauts and highly trained engineers are vital to success for the United States to meet goals of landing on the moon again and eventually getting humans on Mars. But that [space]ship won’t fly without the many other disciplines working together as a team.
NASA is not the only employer that needs these different technical, hands-on, skills. Large aerospace and defense contractors, parts fabricators, research universities and centers, and the many parts of the aerospace supply chain seek workers with these skills.
Why is this important to the NAR? Several reasons.
First and foremost, for many young people, flying model rockets can be a key event that inspires a young person to dream of becoming a future space explorer, career engineer, or key member of the diverse workforce needed to support aerospace. Helping kids fly their first rocket with a positive experience is inspirational for shaping that child to want to stay engaged in STEM, with an emphasis on aerospace. As a NAR member, you can play an important part of that experience.
The NAR is an educational non-profit, and we support many aspects of STEM and aerospace learning. Our marquee educational programs and products (such as narTcert and a rich collection of educational materials) provide teachers at all levels of primary and secondary education with useful information for rocketry programs in our schools.
The American Rocketry Challenge, arguably the most successful STEM engagement program with a rocketry focus, has engaged tens of thousands of middle and high school students. One skill that ARC and other student challenges teaches is teamwork, a highly sought experience by employers.
The NAR also supports NASA’s Student Launch Challenge, which has provided an advanced rocketry and payload challenge for thousands of college and university students, and hundreds of middle and high school students. We also support the university student challenge program called A Rocket Launch for International Student Satellites (ARLISS), which has a 25-year history of launching student satellite projects.
Other NAR activities, such as our NAR rocketry and international rocketry competitions help to inspire our younger members to build and fly model rockets to compete at local, national, and international levels. I wonder how many rocket scientists and technical workers in aerospace were inspired by our competitions?
Last, but not least, we offer high power certifications. One message from the STEM conference was that employers are most interested in a workforce that goes through a progression of learning. Helping students progress from low power to mid- and then high-power rocketry is a great demonstration of that learning progression.
What can you do as a NAR member to contribute?
- Be a friendly and welcoming representative of our community at rocket launches you attend. If someone asks about your rocket as you prep it, take a moment to explain what it is all about. There is always another launch if you spend too much time explaining your project and inspire someone about aerospace.
- Take some time to work with kids and their families who show up at section launches. The time you take to show these newcomers the thrill of putting a rocket on a pad and launching it could result in interest in a future career.
- Be helpful and not overwhelming to ARC and other student groups who show up at launches.
- Communicate with local student groups to help them understand your launch process and the importance of working together to facilitate their project launches if appropriate.
- Mentor teams in ARC and other student challenges.
- Cheerfully answer all questions posed about a team’s rocket or launch procedures. Help a team to understand why something failed if you can
- Don’t be sarcastic or off-putting to teams if their project needs some attention to make it safe to launch.
- Volunteer at local schools when they reach out with requests for rocketry expertise.
- Encourage students to seek all types of STEM and other discipline careers that support aerospace.
- Help students to understand and go through a progression of building rockets for various power levels. But we must be nice and supportive, not gruff and demanding.
Oh, and a bonus of the conference was getting to see three launches while there.
Until next month, inspire future rocketeers and aerospace workers, be safe, have fun and pay it forward.
John N. Hochheimer
NAR President
NAR 74537 L3