My generation, which came of age in the 1960s, is largely remembered for free love and anti-war protests - but it wasn't all surf, sand and kumbaya back then. A Cold War also raged, and some from my era, spurred by Sputnik and the Cuban missile crisis, became the scientists and engineers who put a man on the moon as that tumultuous decade came to a close. How we cheered when the American flag was planted by Neil Armstrong, who spoke of a "giant leap for mankind."
And now, in the first decade of this new century, tens of thousands of America's aerospace workers are reaching retirement age.
On a recent visit to a large aerospace firm in El Segundo, I was starkly reminded of the "gray wave" threatening to wash over our region. After a briefing on a key satellite program, a young engineer told me: "All my peers are gone." Engineers his age, he explained, are departing the industry in droves - and very few are stepping up to replace them.
Some 60 percent of aerospace workers are over age 50, and almost 26 percent are eligible for retirement this year, including a quarter of NASA's workforce. The South Bay's aerospace firms expect as many as half of their employees to retire in the next five to 10 years.
America's leadership role in aerospace and pre-eminence in outer space have never been so severely challenged. This month, extraordinary thinkers, policymakers and industry officials will gather at Los Angeles Air Force
Base in El Segundo to talk about the looming "brain drain" - including NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who has spoken about the stiff competitive challenge posed by China's space program; former UCLA Chancellor Al Carnesale, a rocket scientist who knows the educational challenge; and Segway inventor Dean Kamen, who launched the FIRST Robotics Competition to create, in his words, "a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes." There are hundreds of FIRST high school teams in California, including almost 50 in L.A. County.
Solving the problem will take work.
First, we need political leadership from the top that sets ambitious goals for America's space program - goals that excite and foster a new generation of scientists and engineers - and then backs up those goals with funding. It is a national security imperative to revive this industry, whose innovation and achievements won the Cold War.
Second, the industry must take a hard look inward. The aerospace giants have become supremely bureaucratic and have begun emulating their largest customer, the Defense Department. They have lost something in the process, and it is no surprise that young engineers are drawn to more dynamic and entrepreneurial industries.
Third, Congress needs to revaluate its budget process for big-ticket programs. The current cycle is too short and peristaltic, and political considerations often trump or derail a more productive evolutionary approach. Both Congress and the Pentagon protect "pet rocks" or legacy programs. Seldom are failing programs canceled.
Fourth, as a nation, we have failed to inspire our kids - particularly girls and minorities - to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education. Approximately one-third of U.S. bachelor degrees are in science or engineering - a figure that pales in comparison to Thailand's 69percent, Japan's 63 percent, Singapore's 59 percent and China's 56 percent. Immigration policy also exacerbates the workforce shortage. Many qualified foreign workers cannot obtain visas or the security clearances needed to perform government work.
Aerospace design and production are among the largest and most important economic engines in the South Bay. A well-kept secret is that California's aerospace exports top agricultural exports.
The cream of our country's aerospace workforce, who came of age as the Iron Curtain came slamming down, possessors of centuries of collective experience and institutional knowledge, will retire soon. Their imminent departures are leading California's aerospace industry - and our economy - to the edge of a "demographic cliff." Barring prompt action, the private sector and policymakers will be humming a variation on Pete Seeger's timeless '60s tune - "Where Have All the Rocket Scientists Gone?"