Also called: Reusability Engineer, Booster Recovery Engineer
Works on bringing rocket boosters and capsules back so they can fly again, from landing legs to refurbishment.
After a landing, you inspect a scorched booster on a drone ship or landing pad, decide what needs fixing, and figure out how to turn it around faster next time. You might ride out to sea with the recovery fleet.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in aerospace or mechanical engineering.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Part of BLS aerospace engineers category.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI analyzes landing data and predicts wear; hardware inspection, refurbishment and test campaigns stay human.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Shop class, Computer science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.