Systems are becoming increasingly more complex. To follow this increasingly complexity, systems engineering must evolve rapidly with the introduction of new methodologies, processes, tools, etc. Due to this rapid evolution, little attention is dedicated to the study of the history of its evolution.
Currently there is the initiative of installation of a chapter of INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering) in Brazil and from this initiative emerged the interest of recovering the history of systems engineering in the country. There are indications that the introduction of systems engineering into Brazil occurred in the late 1960's, directly from NASA and that its first applications in Brazil were in Space Systems Engineering.
This paper recovers the origins of systems engineering, of its introduction into Brazil, and of its use in space systems engineering.