Space Hospitality Student Challenge
Your Next Guest Is 250 Miles Up.
Design Their Stay.
Space tourism is no longer science fiction. SpaceX, Axiom Space, and Blue Origin are accelerating the timeline for civilian spaceflight, and someone has to figure out dinner, sleep, and an unforgettable guest experience in orbit. That someone is you.
Open to UCF students from every discipline: hospitality, engineering, business, design, and beyond. Balance survival, comfort, and extraordinary guest experience in the most extreme environment imaginable. Top concepts can evolve into research projects, startups, and funded collaborations.
Crew recruitment is open. Grab your spot before the ideation sessions begin.
Mission Briefing
Choose Your Problem. Any of Them Could Change the Industry.
Theme: Life Support & Human Experience in Space Hospitality. Your setting is a commercial low-earth-orbit space station, an ISS-like private habitat. Your job: design something that keeps guests alive and makes them want to come back. Six mission domains to pick from:
Culinary & Nutrition
Nutritious, satisfying meal experiences under microgravity constraints and limited ingredients.
Self-Service Systems
Intuitive, guest-operated systems for hygiene, meal prep, and environmental controls.
Guest Wellbeing
Physical and psychological wellbeing: rest, fitness, social connection, stress reduction.
Habitat Design
Spatial layouts and interiors that are functionally safe and aesthetically restorative.
Technology Integration
AI, AR/VR, and smart systems that enhance the guest experience and streamline operations.
On-Earth Journey
The pre-launch and post-mission experience, from training to re-integration on Earth.
Flight Plan
Eight Weeks From Liftoff to Landing
Structured to maximize learning, mentorship, and creative output. Miss a window and the mission gets harder, so mark these dates.
- 1Late AugustAnnouncement & recruitment. The Fall semester kickoff.
- 2Early SeptemberPre-Ideation Bootcamp: expert talks on the space tourism landscape, life-support systems, and hospitality in extreme environments.
- 3September to OctoberFour facilitated ideation sessions: Problem Framing (Aug 31), Concept Development (Sept 14), Feasibility (Sept 21), and Refinement & Validation throughout October. Mentors are assigned early and announced in September.
- 4October 2Submission deadline. White papers and video pitches due.
- 5October 30 • 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.Final Pitch Day: keynote address, industry panel, final pitches from top teams, and a poster showcase for semi-finalists.
Your Deliverable
Two Boarding Passes. Pick One.
White Paper
3 to 5 pages making the case for your concept.
Video Pitch
5 minutes to sell the vision.
Whichever you choose, cover: the problem, your solution, the guest experience and journey, feasibility, budget or cost logic, implementation timeline, and expected impact with success metrics.
Mission Scoring
How You’ll Be Judged
- Innovation & Originality
- Feasibility
- Alignment with Space Context
- User Experience Quality
- Financial & Logical Viability
Ground Truth
This Is a Real Industry
The challenge is grounded in what’s actually being built right now. You’ll engage with a live, fast-moving ecosystem, not a thought experiment:
- Orbital transport & launch systems (SpaceX, Blue Origin)
- Commercial space stations (Axiom Space, Sierra Space)
- Space tourism services (Virgin Galactic)
- Habitat technologies (inflatable habitats, modular systems)
Crew Benefits
Why Join the Crew
- Learn by building: hands-on work at the intersection of hospitality, technology, and space.
- Cross-disciplinary teams: hospitality, engineering, business, and design students on the same problem.
- Real connections: UCF colleges, incubators, entrepreneurs, and regional space and tech stakeholders in one room.
- Life after landing: strong concepts can connect to UCF research labs, the UCF Business Incubation Program, Space Florida initiatives, and accelerator opportunities along the Space Coast and the Florida High Tech Corridor.
Final Transmission
T-Minus to Final Pitch Day
October 30 • 9 a.m. • Keynote, panel, final pitches, and poster showcase.
Registration is open. Join the crew before liftoff.