Bachelor of Science in
Spaceflight Operations

Imagine the challenges one could face every day if their career were dedicated to launching a brand-new facet of space exploration and travel. Amazingly, there is a degree to match your ambitions. Embry-Riddle offers the world’s first Spaceflight Operations degree program. Linking the commercial space industry and regulatory agencies with Embry-Riddle’s well-established aviation and aerospace connections, this program teaches students to solve challenges such as airspace traffic coordination, launch operations, and training and certification requirements.

Students can be part of the world’s first commercial space operations degree program. An innovator in aerospace and aviation education, Embry-Riddle is backed with expertise and committed to teaching an interdisciplinary curriculum that aligns with global space industry demands.

Embry-Riddle collaborates with the Space Generation Advisory Council to promote space activities and strengthen the space workforce through education and career development.

This non-engineering degree program has been structured with the help of the commercial space industry and affiliated space agencies, including NASA and the FAA-Commercial Transportation office (FAA-AST), to help match the strengths of the graduates with the industry's needs.

Students in this innovative program can specialize in either Space Policy and Operations or Operations Science and Technology.

DEGREE DETAILS

About Spaceflight Operations at the Daytona Beach, FL Campus

The Bachelor of Science in Spaceflight Operations program opens a doorway into one of the newest and most innovative non-engineering fields in the aerospace industry. This unique program focuses on policy, operations, safety, training, human factors, and planning elements of commercial and private space operations. The interdisciplinary nature of this program prepares students to integrate the many different factors involved in space operations while also allowing them to specialize in either Space Policy and Operations or Operations Science and Technology.

The Bachelor of Science in Spaceflight Operations degree is housed in the Department of Applied Aviation Sciences in the College of Aviation.

Embry-Riddle’s Spaceflight Operations program is designed to prepare students for work in the commercial spaceflight industry. Graduates will be skilled in areas of space policy, operations, regulation and certification, as well as spaceflight safety, space program training, management, and planning.

Embry-Riddle's undergraduate Spaceflight Operations degree is an interdisciplinary program that encompasses the human factors of space flight and training; the safety, security, and risk assessment of space operations; and the simulation, training, and planning involved with the space flight projects, vehicles, and spaceports.

This new degree program introduces students to the exciting and expanding world of commercial and private space flight, private and cooperative space programs, and the growing area of commerce in space research.

The campus is adjacent to the Daytona Beach International Airport and the NextGen Test Bed, and is also close to NASA and Kennedy Space Center.

Learn more about the Daytona Beach, FL Campus

Request DEGREE INFO Schedule a VISIT Apply Today

Degree Summary

120-122 Credits

Estimate your tuition by using the Tuition Calculator

View Financial Aid Information

Learn about our General Education

Student Achievement Information

Find out about transferring credits to this degree

Learn more about our Veterans & Military benefits

View our Academic Calendar

We're Learning How to Live in Space, on Other Planets

Daytona Beach, FL Campus

Another Embry-Riddle First: Penguin C Aircraft Added for UAS Flight Training

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University recently became the only university to acquire the Penguin C – one of the most sophisticated long-endurance, long-range professional unmanned aircraft systems on the market today – specifically for flight training.

Q&A: National Air and Space Museum Director Explores the Future of Space

Will we get to Mars in our lifetime? Why do we need space lawyers? What’s the most exciting thing about NASA right now? Ellen Stofan, former NASA chief scientist and current John and Adrienne Mars director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, answered all of these questions and more at a recent Embry-Riddle SpeakER Series event hosted by Marc Bernier. Some of her responses have been paraphrased here, for brevity. Read highlights from her talk below, or watch the discussion in full on YouTube.

Two Extraordinary Embry-Riddle Women Join Elite Cohort as 2019 Brooke Owens Fellows

Embry-Riddle’s own Alyssa Crystal and Jaclyn Wiley were among 38 students worldwide to receive 2019 Brooke Owens Fellowships honoring extraordinary undergraduate women in aerospace.

Trio of Aerospace Physiology Students Complete First Hospital Rotations

The nation’s only undergraduate Aerospace Physiology program, based at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, recently dispatched its first cohort of students to complete clinical rotations, in collaboration with Advent Health (formerly Florida Hospital). Students Haleema Irfan, Jenifer Schuman and Morgan Ackermann have so far observed the diagnosis and treatment of patients in the hospital’s operating room, emergency room, hyperbaric wound center, physical therapy center and other settings. For Irfan, who wants to be a neurosurgeon, clinical rotations have helped her gain valuable interpersonal and communication skills.

The Future of Space Prospecting? Surprising New Rocket Fuel Unveiled

A prototype spacecraft capable of “hopping” from one asteroid to another effectively transforms water into steam, Embry-Riddle student-researchers have reported. The spacecraft’s steam-powered propulsion system suggests an endlessly renewable fuel that could be ideal for asteroid mining or “space prospecting,” said Aerospace Engineering Senior Ankit Rukhaiyar. Identifying renewable sources of spacecraft fuel has become increasingly important as NASA prepares to send humans to Mars and Earth’s finite supply of minerals keeps shrinking. Embry-Riddle’s steam-powered propulsion system suggests a way to keep spacecraft flying longer – in theory forever.

Traffic Deaths Among First Responders: Expert Calls for Evidence-Based Solutions

Traffic-related fatalities are the leading cause of death among on-duty police, emergency medical services personnel and towing operators, yet scientific research into how to prevent such tragedies is scant or non-existent, Embry-Riddle Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering Dr. Scott Parr reported at the 2019 Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting.

New Technique More Precisely Determines the Ages of Stars

How old are each of the stars in our roughly 13-billion-year-old galaxy? A new technique for understanding the star-forming history of the Milky Way in unprecedented detail makes it possible to determine the ages of stars at least two times more precisely than conventional methods, Embry-Riddle researchers reported this week at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting. Current star-dating techniques, based on assessments of stars in the prime or main sequence of their lives that have begun to die after exhausting their hydrogen, offer a 20-percent, or at best a 10-percent margin of error, explained Embry-Riddle Physics and Astronomy Professor Dr. Ted von Hippel. Embry-Riddle’s approach, leveraging burnt-out remnants called white dwarf stars, reduces the margin of error to 5 percent or even 3 percent, he said.

Aviation Safety: Efforts to Combat Hypoxia Win Top Honor

Helping pilots swiftly recognize and respond to the first signs of deadly oxygen deficiency, or hypoxia, is the focus of two Embry-Riddle research projects that contributed to a U.S. Navy project that won a 2018 Innovation Award from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCTSD).

Embry-Riddle and Florida Tech Collaborate on Spaceflight Research

With the common goal of improving human performance inside spacecraft, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Florida Institute of Technology have announced a year-long collaboration on research involving spaceflight.

Bachelor of Science in
Spaceflight Operations

DEGREE DETAILS

About Spaceflight Operations at the Daytona Beach, FL Campus

Get Started Now:

Degree Summary

We're Learning How to Live in Space, on Other Planets

Daytona Beach, FL Campus

MORE NEWS

Another Embry-Riddle First: Penguin C Aircraft Added for UAS Flight Training

Q&A: National Air and Space Museum Director Explores the Future of Space

Two Extraordinary Embry-Riddle Women Join Elite Cohort as 2019 Brooke Owens Fellows

Trio of Aerospace Physiology Students Complete First Hospital Rotations

The Future of Space Prospecting? Surprising New Rocket Fuel Unveiled

Traffic Deaths Among First Responders: Expert Calls for Evidence-Based Solutions

New Technique More Precisely Determines the Ages of Stars

Aviation Safety: Efforts to Combat Hypoxia Win Top Honor

Spotlight

Embry-Riddle and Florida Tech Collaborate on Spaceflight Research

Campuses

Bachelor of Science in Spaceflight Operations

DEGREE DETAILS

About Spaceflight Operations at the Daytona Beach, FL Campus

Get Started Now:

Degree Summary

We're Learning How to Live in Space, on Other Planets

Daytona Beach, FL Campus

Spotlight

Embry-Riddle and Florida Tech Collaborate on Spaceflight Research

Bachelor of Science in
Spaceflight Operations