It kind of makes sense. Space program was in its infancy, so I would also expect the workforce knowledgeable about space to be in its infancy, because it's not

It kind of makes sense. Space program was in its infancy, so I would also expect the workforce knowledgeable about space to be in its infancy, because it's not like there were experienced people putting satellites in orbit in the '20s, let alone an education pipeline for it. And those were back in the days when people got pensions and had loyalty to companies and whatnot. By 2009 the industry was old enough to have people close to retirement age who had studied it in college.