Stephen Blanchette The Aerospace Corporation

What a remarkable time for the space and missile disciplines. Space remains difficult, yet entrepreneurial investment continues to shape a future that was scarcely imaginable just two decades ago. Each year brings both extraordinary successes and instructive failures. Yesterday’s plucky upstarts are today’s established firms, whose achievements are enabling the next wave of innovators. At the same time, strategic and tactical missile technologies are experiencing renewed emphasis, and missile defense capabilities are increasingly extending into space as we work to deter those who would impede humankind’s progress toward coexistence on Earth and beyond.

My professional work in missile and space systems allows me to live and breathe this domain every day.

Three years ago, I stated that we would work together to realize the promise of the future—and we have done so by beginning the effort to refresh the space-related Technical Committees of the Space and Missile Group (SMG) to better reflect the rapidly evolving space ecosystem. While meaningful progress has been made, more work remains to fully realize this vision, while also helping ensure that all AIAA Technical Committees remain aligned with shifting technology landscapes.

My experience as the incumbent Director has provided me with a deep understanding of AIAA’s operations, as well as strong connections with volunteer leadership and professional staff. This positions me to continue working across groups to strengthen both SMG and AIAA as a whole.

I look forward to continuing this work—implementing a reimagined SMG, engaging our technical communities, supporting content development for ASCEND, AIAA DEFENSE, and AIAA SciTech, and sharing the excitement of our disciplines across the broader AIAA membership.