The last time Georgia Tech opened new aerospace engineering buildings, humans had yet to walk on the moon.

And two of the four main buildings dedicated to AE were built in the 1930s, when cloth still covered many airplane wings and Tech students took classes about piston engines and hydraulics.

That’s four structures housing the nation’s No. 2 AE program, and they’re older than most current students’ parents. Even with renovations and improvements over the years, the leader of the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering says its time — beyond time — to upgrade.

“The truth is, we needed a new building 35-40 years ago, when computing, electronics, and sensors started to revolutionize the aerospace industry,” said Mitchell Walker, the W.R.T. Oakes Chair of the School. “Aerospace has since become a foundational tool. It is the infrastructure we use to move people and products around and beyond Earth. Aerospace, via satellites, is also how we exchange the information that powers our global economy.”

The other truth is that the School is bursting at the seams with the largest enrollment among the nation’s public aerospace programs. Walker said astrobiology research is limited because AE lacks dedicated wet labs and fume hoods. Researchers can’t do experiments related to lunar and Martian regolith because AE buildings lack high-end ventilation systems. And two of the main areas where students gather to work and study — the Loewy Library and AE computer lab — each fit about 50 people. That’s less than 3% of the student population.

“Our mission control room, which communicates with Georgia Tech-built spacecraft, is tucked into a small attic with wooden rafters,” Walker said. “After walking up three flights of stairs to a cramped space, our students and faculty do amazing work in that room. But when NASA, commercial space companies, and other high-end sponsors come to visit, it looks like a shoestring operation. It hurts our competitiveness when the workspace doesn’t match the quality of service we’re able to provide.”

Walker said it’s time for the quality of the facilities to match the quality of the learning, discovery, and innovation that happens in those places.

“We’re the country’s No. 1 public aerospace program, and we attract world-class faculty,” he said. “Just imagine how much more we’d accomplish — for students, for the industry, and for society — if we matched those achievements with new classrooms, labs, and research space.” ƒ