The School of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Sun Yat-sen University was established in May 2017, and is one of the first engineering colleges built on the Shenzhen campus of Sun Yat-sen University.In June 2018, the Department of Applied Mechanics and Engineering of the College of Engineering of Sun Yat-sen University was incorporated into the College of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Founded in 1958, the Department of Mechanics of Sun Yat-sen University is one of the earlier mechanics majors in China, and the discipline of mechanics has the right to confer a first-class doctoral degree and a postdoctoral mobile station. Currently, the College of Aeronautics and Astronautics has two first-level disciplines, namely, Aerospace Science and Technology and Mechanics, two undergraduate majors in Aerospace Engineering and Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, and two departments in Applied Mechanics and Engineering and Aerospace Engineering.

The School of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Sun Yat-sen University is focused on the research programs of "Tianqin Project", space gravitational wave detection, new air and space vehicles, aerospace payload equipment, space situational awareness and information application, regional environmental monitoring, etc., and focuses on the construction of aircraft design, aerospace propulsion theory and engineering, human-machine and environmental engineering, engineering mechanics, fluid mechanics and solid mechanics. It focuses on the development of advanced spacecraft platform technology and payload technology, key technology for near space and hypersonic vehicles, space propulsion technology, integrated situational awareness and regional environmental monitoring technology, nonlinear dynamics and control, fluid dynamics and engineering, structural safety and protection, and other disciplines. Since the establishment of the college, all the work has been progressing smoothly. At present, there are nearly 90 faculty members, including more than 60 full-time teachers, and nearly 600 undergraduate and graduate students.

The College has established good cooperation relationship with many domestic competent units of related business, scientific research institutions and industrial departments, and a number of major projects have been or are being landed. The college will fully grasp the national development strategy of aerospace power, take advantage of the comprehensive multidisciplinary advantages of Sun Yat-sen University and the location development of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and strive to build a high-level aerospace college of domestic first-class and international reputation.