Outer space, once considered the final frontier, is now the focus of a booming private industry.

Beyond the confines of Nassau alone and one Kentucky College is preparing its students to find careers in the fast growing aerospace field.

Morehead State University recently hosted its second annual space conference, where students got the chance to meet with industry experts and learn more about cosmic career opportunities.

We are here at the Space Center at Morehead State University for the Astrakhan event.

It's the Appalachian Space Technology Research Conference, and it's the second year that we've run it.

It's a small conference, 150, 200 people, but with very extraordinary presenters, deep expertise from NASA and from the private aerospace sector.

So the idea is to bring all of our research partners and to meet our students, our undergraduate students, so they can understand what we do with the research partners and think about career pathways.

I graduated in 1998, 25 years ago.

There was nothing here.

There was no Space Science Center left.

You could see that there was something really special going on at Morehead, like there was a start of it, but it wasn't there.

And as you watch it and saw it from a distance and engage some, it's really awesome.

The start of what we did turned into something really this amazing and it's grown into something really, you know, nationwide and almost, you know, people are global working from board state in our space.

So we train students in space systems, design in these small space craft.

Sizable loaf of bread or maybe a small microwave oven.

And then we also train them in mission operations.

So how do you conduct a space mission?

How do you use the ground assets like the big dish at Morehead State to send commands and to pull data and telemetry down?

So it's really all about research and development and student training and training students with hands on experiences in space missions.

I think this is great to get students to start, not waiting for people to come to them, but to reach out and network and go after the job they want.

Right.

Students, I think a lot of times worry that they're just going to it's going to come to me.

And I think we're trying to tell them, go out and get it, Be inquisitive, take this experience, take the hardware and all the things you've done, hands on and go after the jobs and be more proactive and go get it.

And I think these kids are good at that because they they learn a little bit of hustle here.

As you can see, most people don't get this much hands on experience.

Most people don't realize this, but Kentucky is an aerospace state.

Most people, when you think about Kentucky and the industries in Kentucky, you think distillation industry, you think thoroughbred, you think automotive, coal or agriculture.

Those are great industries and very important.

But the most important industry in the state of Kentucky, if you measure it by the volume of exports.

Aerospace is the number one industry in that respect.

It's a $13 billion industry in the state of Kentucky.

So it's significantly bigger industry than most people even imagine.

Universities in Kentucky are not producing engineers and technicians at the rate that the aerospace industry needs to even maintain the aerospace industry as it is and the aerospace industry in Kentucky has experienced about 30% growth over the past two years.

So it's an extraordinary growth mode, but we're just not producing the skills, the graduates, the skills that are that are needed to support the industry.

So that that's our role is to try to take these very bright young people from eastern Kentucky and from all over the state.

Actually, kids come from all over the country to us because it's very unique.

Degree program and provide them the skills and the background that are needed to support the Aerospace and defense industries in Kentucky and beyond.

How about that?

Morehead State University is the only college in Kentucky and one of only five in the country that offers a degree in space sciences engineering.