Aerospace engineer vs rocket scientist

The differences between aerospace engineers and rocket scientists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an aerospace engineer and a rocket scientist. Additionally, a rocket scientist has an average salary of $107,053, which is higher than the $100,401 average annual salary of an aerospace engineer.

Aerospace engineer vs rocket scientist overview

	Aerospace Engineer	Rocket Scientist
Yearly salary	$100,401	$107,053
Hourly rate	$48.27	$51.47
Growth rate	6%	16%
Number of jobs	42,086	41,724
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Average age	44	41
Years of experience	4	4

Aerospace engineer vs rocket scientist salary

Aerospace engineers and rocket scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Aerospace Engineer	Rocket Scientist
Average salary	$100,401	$107,053
Salary range	Between $71,000 And $140,000	Between $69,000 And $164,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	-
Highest paying state	Arizona	-
Best paying company	Thrush Aircraft	-
Best paying industry	Manufacturing	-

Differences between aerospace engineer and rocket scientist education

There are a few differences between an aerospace engineer and a rocket scientist in terms of educational background:

	Aerospace Engineer	Rocket Scientist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Most common major	Aerospace Engineering	Engineering
Most common college	Georgia Institute of Technology	Johns Hopkins University

Aerospace engineer vs rocket scientist demographics

Here are the differences between aerospace engineers' and rocket scientists' demographics:

	Aerospace Engineer	Rocket Scientist
Average age	44	41
Gender ratio	Male, 88.8% Female, 11.2%	Male, 84.6% Female, 15.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.1% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 11.0% White, 69.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 6.9% Asian, 18.8% White, 64.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	8%	9%

Differences between aerospace engineer and rocket scientist duties and responsibilities

Aerospace engineer example responsibilities.

Lead redesign review for cyclic stick, composite to metal, (CATIA).
Schedule HVAC equipment to keep equipment off as much as possible and still achieve a healthy, comfortable setting for academics.
Manage HVAC retro-commissioning program to optimize facility energy use.
Serve as program focal point for integration of radar onto flight test aircraft.
Perform design reviews, operations procedural reviews, and failure mode investigations of concept NASA launch vehicles/propulsion systems.
Debug and run regression tests.

Rocket scientist example responsibilities.

Develop and implement tools in both IDL/ENVI and Erdas to automate preprocessing and enhancement of imagery data for exploitation and interpretation.
Require to acquire geospatial information and extract essential elements from a wide array of multi-intelligence data to include Sigint and Masint.
Used Endotoxin and viral contamination assays to detect contamination in cells freezes and identify organism by ribosomal RNA testing.

Aerospace engineer vs rocket scientist skills

Common aerospace engineer skills

C++, 15%
DOD, 5%
FAA, 5%
Systems Engineering, 4%
Solidworks, 4%
NASA, 4%

Common rocket scientist skills

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Updated January 8, 2025

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