Landing humans on the moon was just a dream when UCF was founded in 1963. But we dared to believe — developing the talent and inventing the technologies to make it reality. That same spirit still drives us today.

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

Houston, do we understand each other?

Imagine living about 250 miles above Earth, traveling at approximately 17,500 mph, surrounded by some of humanity’s most sophisticated technology and realizing the person beside you calls a piece of equipment by a different name.

Welcome to the International Space Station (ISS), where rocket science sometimes requires a language lesson.

Understanding one another in space requires linguistic flexibility, cultural awareness and cultural intelligence.

The station is an extraordinary experiment in human communication. Astronauts and cosmonauts from different countries, languages, professional backgrounds, and cultural traditions must live, work, and solve problems together — and occasionally disagree — for months at a time in a confined environment. On Earth, a misunderstanding may lead to an awkward conversation. In space, where procedures can involve complex machinery, scientific experiments or emergency responses, clear communication can become a matter of safety.

This raises an interesting question: What does it really mean to understand one another in space?

The answer involves more than knowing the right vocabulary. It requires linguistic flexibility, cultural awareness, and what we might call cultural intelligence: the ability to observe, question assumptions, and adapt when communicating across cultural boundaries.

Somewhere Between Russian and English

English and Russian have long played central roles aboard the station. The U.S.-led portion operates primarily in English, while Russian is used extensively in the Russian segment and in communications with Russian mission controllers. Crews train in the languages needed to work with international partners, but everyday communication rarely follows a textbook perfectly.

During the first long-duration ISS mission in 2000, crews communicated in a mix of Russian and English they called “Runglish.”

During the first long-duration ISS mission in 2000, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev described how the crew communicated using a mixture they jokingly called “Runglish”— part Russian, part English. Krikalev explained that crew members switched between the two languages when they lacked a word in one.

The practice did not disappear with Expedition 1. Astronaut Jeff Williams later described conversations with Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov in much the same way. Each would try to speak the other’s language, and together they would simply “work through it.”

From a language professor’s perspective, this is fascinating. Successful communication doesn’t always require linguistic perfection. It requires adaptability. Speakers repeat information, simplify explanations and use shared technical vocabulary to achieve shared understanding.

When ‘On’ and ‘Off’ Become a Language Problem

One story from the Shuttle-Mir program — a 1994–98 space collaboration between the United States and Russia — captures the challenge.

Astronauts encountered the Russian commands включить (�������ܳ��󾱳�’ — switch on) and отключить (�dzٰ����ܳ��󾱳�’ — switch off).

To an American ear still learning Russian, these opposite commands could sound uncomfortably similar.

Surely English would solve the problem. But to their Russian colleagues’ ears, “on” and “off” could also be surprisingly easy to confuse.

Suddenly, neither language was the “easy” one. We naturally assume our own language, habits and ways of expressing ideas are obvious, but the other person may face the same difficulty from the other direction. Recognizing that is a reason to check understanding before acting.

Language Is Only Half the Conversation

Vocabulary matters, but knowing every word doesn’t guarantee understanding someone’s intent. People can have different expectations about hierarchy, disagreement, humor or silence. An instruction intended to sound efficient may seem abrupt; a cautious response may be mistaken for uncertainty.

This is where cultural intelligence matters.

Trust also develops in ordinary moments. Space station crews share meals, celebrate holidays and bring traditions from home into orbit. These interactions help them connect beyond their assignments.

Former NASA astronaut Robert Cabana described learning Russian language and culture as part of building trust with Russian colleagues. He explained that even learning enough of another person’s language to communicate politely can help ease communication challenges.

And Then Comes the Matryoshka

One illustration of that connection comes after astronauts return to Earth.

In December 2025, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim returned to Kazakhstan aboard Soyuz MS-27 with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky. During 245 days in space, they had orbited Earth 3,920 times and traveled nearly 104 million miles. After landing, Kim displayed a matryoshka, a traditional Russian nesting doll painted in his likeness.

In July 2026, the tradition continued. NASA astronaut Chris Williams returned aboard Soyuz MS-28 after 241 days in space alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. Waiting for them were personalized matryoshkas depicting the crew as welcome-home gifts.

A small cultural object marked the end of an extraordinary technological journey. It shows how culture travels with us, shaping how we recognize one another and find meaning in shared experiences.

From the ISS to UCF and Beyond

ɫ����, the connection between language learning and space exploration has particular resonance. As we prepare scientists and engineers to contribute to the future of aerospace and exploration, we can also help them develop the communication skills international collaboration demands.

As international crews venture farther from Earth with less immediate mission control support, they’ll need to clarify intentions and navigate differences.

Languages belong in that preparation. An engineer must explain technical decisions. A scientist must work through disagreements with collaborators.

Future international crews may spend longer periods farther from Earth, with less immediate support from mission control. Translation technologies can help with words. Crews will still need to clarify intentions, navigate differences and be willing to ask, “Is that what you mean?”

A Russian language classroom may seem removed from a spacecraft. Yet both ask people to work through unfamiliar ideas and learn from someone with a different perspective.

Perhaps the next great challenge in space exploration is not only how far we can travel, but how well we can travel together.

Wherever humanity goes, one question remains useful: Мы понимаем друг друга?

Do we understand each other?

Landing humans on the moon was just a dream when UCF was founded in 1963. But we dared to believe — developing the talent and inventing the technologies to make it reality. That same spirit still drives us today.

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

A space capsule is becoming the UCF College of Medicine’s newest classroom and research lab.

Sierra Space, a Colorado-based private aerospace and defense technologies company, donated the 22-foot-long life-sized model of their Shooting Star cargo module, which is capable of delivering supplies and equipment to the International Space Station.

The gift recognizes UCF’s reputation as America’s Space University and the medical school’s emerging aerospace medicine program, which is exploring how space flight impacts the human body and how that knowledge can drive innovation into diagnostics, treatment and disease prevention for patients on Earth.

The model was housed at Kennedy Space Center — located roughly 30 miles from UCF’s campus — where it was used as a design reference for engineers and a training tool for in-space cargo transfer. The module attaches to a Sierra Space Dream Chaser spaceplane and in the future could potentially to deliver up to 12,000 pounds of cargo, including science experiments, research equipment and medical supplies to space stations.

The mockup is almost identical to a real module with a hatch that docks with the spacecraft and a section of storage lockers that hold resupply materials.

“There’s only a handful of ships that can take payloads to low Earth orbit,” says Emmanuel Urquieta, the College of Medicine’s vice chair for aerospace medicine and director ɫ����’s new Center for Aerospace and Extreme Environments Medicine (). “This module is a true-to-size mock-up that is fully aligned with what will actually fly into space.”

Dedicated to Keeping Space Travelers Healthy

CASEEM is a multidisciplinary center that includes UCF faculty experts in medicine, engineering, computer science, psychology, arts and educational leadership who will work together to research and develop new technologies for keeping space travelers healthy as well as soldiers on military missions, deep sea explorers and mountain climbers.

UCF will use the module to give students and faculty precise training to address medical events in the confines of a spacecraft.

The model also will help researchers create technologies for improving payloads and establishing protocols to send materials into the tight spaces of intergalactic travel. Such technologies and strategies also could be used in combat zones, on submarines and in remote and isolated areas of Earth, Urquieta says.

“It is a rare piece of technology that the UCF Aerospace Medicine program is privileged to use for research.” — Ed Powers, CASEEM’s medical director

“This module brings human spaceflight to life for students and researchers at UCF,” says William (Ed) Powers, CASEEM’s medical director, who worked as director of flight medicine for Axiom Space and chief of NASA’s Medical Operations Branch before joining UCF. “It is a rare piece of technology that the UCF Aerospace Medicine program is privileged to use for research.”

The university is working to create a location for the module.

The donated module grew out of a longstanding professional relationship between aerospace medicine faculty members with Tom Marshburn, chief astronaut and vice president of programs at Sierra Space. Marshburn spent 28 years at NASA, where he was on three space flights and served as medical operations lead for the International Space Station.

“Sierra Space is proud to support the UCF’s College of Medicine and its aerospace medicine program by providing our life-size mockup of our Dream Chaser cargo module,” Marshburn says. “Humans will interface with the actual Dream Chaser spaceplane and its cargo module when it arrives at the ISS or a commercial LEO destination, and we look forward to working with UCF medical students, physicians and faculty on the insights the mockup vehicle can provide for human factors studies, in aerospace and mechanical engineering, and in potential space medical capabilities.”

Landing humans on the moon was just a dream when UCF was founded in 1963. But we dared to believe — developing the talent and inventing the technologies to make it reality. That same spirit still drives us today.

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

Seconds after NASA’s Orion capsule splashed into the Pacific Ocean, white spray rose around the scorched spacecraft. Telemetry streamed from Houston to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Inside the Test Launch Control Center thousands of miles from the splashdown, Joseph Hoayun ’22 ’26MSEM watched his monitor intently. His heart pounded as he tracked live data from the crew module uprighting system, a critical safety mechanism he had spent months testing and analyzing.

As five vibrant orange balloons inflated and lifted the capsule upright in the rolling sea, Hoayun’s shoulders finally dropped. Months of work gave way to pride. Orion was home. Mission accomplished.

“That capsule was my baby,” says Hoayun, a spacecraft propulsion test engineer at Lockheed Martin, NASA’s prime contractor for the Orion spacecraft used in the crewed Artemis II mission. “We were just freaking out — everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. It felt like hours from the time Orion entered our atmosphere until the astronauts safely emerged from the spacecraft.”

While the world celebrated the first crewed lunar flyby in more than half a century, Hoayun’s attention soon turned to the next mission. As NASA prepares to accelerate its launch schedule from one Artemis mission every two years to an aggressive eight-month cycle, the pressure on test engineering is mounting. To keep pace, his division is expanding from 70 to more than 100 personnel.

High-Pressure Stakes

Hoayun supports the night shift in an operation that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week at Kennedy Space Center. On any given evening, he might run a proof and leak test on an Orion service module, pressurizing flight propellant tanks to hundreds of pounds per square inch to verify structural integrity under extreme stress.

“People think you build one rocket at a time, but right now we have Artemis III, IV and V all in our building being tested in parallel by different teams,” Hoayun says.

As leader of his division’s Operational Excellence Team, he applies Six Sigma methods to improve tracking, refine testing workflows and eliminate waste. He estimates his team has saved Lockheed Martin hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“We do hundreds of distinct tests for each spacecraft cycle to ensure that all engines, electrical components, mechanical units and control systems work cleanly before they leave Earth,” he says.

Ensuring spacecraft reliability requires precision and strict safety protocols, including a 70-foot evacuation radius during high-threshold testing to protect personnel from lethal hazards. A single miscalculation could destroy a $2 billion spacecraft or trigger a catastrophic explosion.

Hoayun credits his UCF bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and master’s degree in engineering management through the university’s College of Engineering and Computer Science with giving him the tools to thrive in these high-pressure environments. For his senior design project, he fondly recalls building and successfully flying a distributed electric propulsion aircraft. The complex engineering challenge required the same collaborative problem-solving he now relies on at Lockheed Martin.

But long before stepping onto UCF’s campus, Hoayun discovered his passion for solving problems. As a child, he watched Apollo 13 and was captivated by the scene in which engineers race against the clock to build a makeshift carbon dioxide filter.

“Watching them solve a life-or-death engineering problem in real time made me say, ‘I want to be the guy in the control room doing rapid problem-solving,’ ” he says.

Read Him Like a Book

Hoayun’s dad, a science teacher at Orlando’s Corner Lake Middle School, recognized his son’s fascination with space early. Instead of traditional bedtime stories like Goodnight Moon, his father read him school textbooks or set up kitchen experiments to explain thermodynamics and chemistry. When Hoayun reached middle school, he landed right in his dad’s honors class.

“Getting to touch a spacecraft and see your work blast into orbit every day is a full-circle blessing.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily recommend having your dad as your teacher,” Hoayun says with a chuckle. “He loved using me as the class guinea pig for demonstrations, but I couldn’t complain — he was my ride home!”

After submitting about 400 job applications, Hoayun landed his dream job. In a few years, he says he may return to UCF to pursue a doctorate. But for now, at just 26, he’s focused on preparing the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis III mission.

His work supports preparations for the precise maneuvers needed to bring Orion and commercial lunar landers together in orbit, helping pave the way for astronauts to return to the moon’s surface.

“Each mission is progressively more complex and difficult,” Hoayun says. “But that means you never get bored. Getting to touch a spacecraft and see your work blast into orbit every day is a full-circle blessing.”

Rocket sightings are commonplace from UCF’s campus and Acrisure Bounce House, whose 50-yard-line is on the same latitude as NASA’s historical Launch Complex 39A. But for a crowd of dozens gathered on Monday on the concourse of the football stadium, this wasn’t a typical “launch.”

Five toddlers from Greater Orlando and the I4-Corridor were on site to receive space-themed motorized cars built especially for them by UCF student-athletes, physical therapy doctoral candidates from , and healthcare professionals from Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute.

A national, community-based research, design and outreach program, Go Baby Go! provides accessible and inexpensive solutions for kids and adults with limited mobility at no cost to their families.

Nicholas Antoine ’25, a senior defensive back on the football team from Daytona Beach, Florida, who graduated last December with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, jokes his construction skills need some improvement, but he was thrilled nonetheless to be an active part of the collaboration that made an impact for the families.

“Being able to bring joy to somebody else, there’s no greater joy than that,” Antoine says.

A total of 10 cars were built ahead of the 10^th anniversary of the UCF football team’s Space Game, an annual event that celebrates UCF’s reputation as America’s Space University.

The Space Game presented by Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute is now one of the signature events of a larger Space Week held at the university, which launches Oct. 25. The football team will take on Baylor University on Friday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Monday’s build is yet another example of how the beloved tradition’s impact has spread beyond an annual football game. It continues to illustrate UCF’s integral role as a driver of impact for Central Florida, whether in the space industry, health sector or beyond.

“When we look at the Space Game, we’re excited to be in that same space to walk alongside these athletes and create an opportunity that celebrates all the things that we do here at UCF,” says UCF Clinical Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Jennifer Tucker ’23PhD.

The Magic of Go Baby Go!

Tucker started UCF’s chapter of Go Baby Go! in 2015 and has led an average of 10 to 15 workshops annually — just like the one held Monday in Athletics Village — to benefit children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years old with mobility issues stemming from Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and osteogenesis, among others.

Over the last decade, UCF’s Go Baby Go! has built up such a reputation that prospective students talk about it in their interviews as they look to gain acceptance into the doctoral physical therapy program.

It’s gone international, too, with partnerships in Belgium and Wales. It has welcomed students from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Sciences and College of Medicine all interested in contributing their talents.

UCF’s students are a key component that keeps the engine running. Philanthropy is another.

Orlando Health, a UCF Pegasus Partner and a premier sponsor for UCF Athletics, has been one of Go Baby Go!’s biggest supporters since its inception as part of its mission to advance education, research, workforce development and community impact across Central Florida. It’s often personal for the clinical teams at Orlando Health who participate in these builds, since many of the recipients are longtime patients.

“It’s exciting to work alongside our partners UCF Athletics and UCF Go Baby Go! to help create this special event for these families,” says Sara Osborne ’14 ’17MHA, Orlando Health senior director of community benefit. “Go Baby Go’s mission aligns with Orlando Health as we look for ways to support our communities beyond the clinical care we provide every day. We’re proud to help play a part in making increased mobility and independence possible for these kids.”

Kid-Sized Astronauts Ready for Warp Speed

Sean Calamigan ’23 kneels next to 2-year-old Griffin Bordner, who had just plopped happily into his custom-fitted “space ship” and was already testing the sound level on his “go for launch” horn.

The third-year physical therapy doctoral candidate playfully warns the toddler of speed limits inside the Wayne Densch Center for Student-Athlete Leadership.

Griffin’s parents look on with mile-wide smiles. His father hails from a family of Knights who have been football season ticket holders since the 1990s. His mother, Jennifer Bordner ’15MEd, graduated with a master’s in exceptional student education.

They were referred by their son’s care team to apply to UCF’s Go Baby Go program! and underwent their first consultation in May. As Griffin test drove along the concourse of Acrisure Bounce House on Monday, Jennifer was already envisioning her son in their neighborhood’s cul-de-sac, spinning his wheels alongside his older sister.

“Griffin is a happy, joyous little boy. There is nothing that slows him down — he just goes, goes, goes, but he’s normally in a stroller while his sister is on her bike or scooter. This opportunity is so exciting for him to be included in that fun,” she says. “It just gives me chills knowing that there are that many people in the community and organizations who donate the cars to allow kids with mobility issues the opportunity to be included in their communities, just to get out and play and have fun.”

UCF faculty and physical therapy students took meticulous steps ahead of the build day to ensure the vehicles would have everything they needed to launch smoothly. Each child was individually assessed to determine communication, seating and positioning needs for his or her set of wheels, and a team of volunteers assisted with a workshop to pre-wire the cars and pack kits with the necessary tools and supplies.

Faculty from the made the experience extra special for the recipients by innovating a switch-activated plush toy rocket that lights up they could take home as a memento along with their car.

Calamigan, who spent his entire morning working at the event despite a final exam on his calendar at 1 p.m., says nothing compares to the practical, hands-on experience and witnessing the families’ reactions and delight to cars they worked on so diligently.

“I think the UCF DPT program really prepares us for a lot of things, but one of the main things they do for us is make sure we’re ready to face the real world, and this is the real world,” Calamigan says.

And it’s a real world that, at the end of the day, Tucker aims to make feel a little more connected.

“We’re providing an opportunity for play, and play is a universal shared rite of passage of childhood. But we’re also building community,” Tucker says. “My hope is that the impact of today extends far outside of this moment in time, and it helps us build a better community and a better tomorrow for Central Florida.”

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

More than 60 years ago, UCF was created to provide the talent needed to support the United States’ growing space program at Cape Canaveral.

We were Florida Technological University then. NASA and the federal government were at the center of the space industry, and the challenge was largely scientific and engineering-focused: build the technology, develop the workforce and get people and machines into space.

Today, we continue to reach for the stars.  You need to look no further than our ranking as the No. 1 provider of talent to the aerospace and defense industries (according to Aviation Week). But the space industry is changing.

Drive to the Space Coast today and you will find that SpaceX now operates Launch Pad 39A. Blue Origin has a major manufacturing facility at Exploration Park while Amazon Leo has a satellite processing facility. These are just a few of a growing collection of private businesses building rockets, satellites, infrastructure and entirely new markets around space.

That evolution creates a new challenge for America’s Space University. The commercial space economy will certainly continue to need great scientists and engineers. But it will also need people who understand how to finance companies, allocate capital, manage organizations, develop markets, navigate risk, build supply chains and turn extraordinary technologies into sustainable businesses.

That is why the Barry S. Miller College of Business is so committed to UCF Space Week.

Last year, we helped bring The Economist’s Space Economy Summit to UCF as one of the anchors of Space Week. This October, the summit returns to campus, bringing together leaders from industry, government and investment to examine an increasingly important proposition: Space is becoming everybody’s business.

Our contribution to that conversation is deliberately a business one. This year, for example, our faculty will examine what a SpaceX IPO could mean for space commercialization. The interesting questions extend well beyond what the stock might be worth. How does becoming a public company change SpaceX? What might its valuation do to the flow of venture capital into other space businesses? Does greater access to public capital accelerate the development of an entire commercial ecosystem?

Those are business-school questions. Increasingly, they are also space-industry questions.

We have made the same bet with our space MBA. The program prepares professionals to lead organizations operating in the emerging space economy, combining the traditional disciplines of business with specialized work in space finance, entrepreneurship, strategy, policy and leadership.

And our ambition reaches beyond graduate education.

Several years ago, one of our student ambassadors, Harper Cheyenne ’21, was studying finance, marketing and astrophysics at UCF. She wanted to work in the space industry and become an astronaut. Today, she works for NASA as a test director, having worked previously as a systems engineer for Kennedy Propellants and Life Support Services. She’s proudly known as our “Rocket Girl.”

Harper’s story is a reminder that UCF has always been at its best when it prepares people not simply for the economy that exists, but for the one that is emerging.

That is what Space Week is about for us. UCF helped build the first space economy. Now we intend to help lead the next one.

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

Since UCF first held classes on Oct. 7, 1968, we have always been driven by an ambitious charge: “Reach for the stars.” The first moon landing followed in 1969. Decades later, UCF keeps reaching as that founding mission lives on in the Knights developing the talent, discoveries and technologies taking humanity deeper into space — and transforming life here on Earth.

Before UCF had a single classroom, we had a mission: provide the talent to help humanity reach the moon.

UCF, America’s Space University, was built for the Space Age. We have spent every decade since building what’s next.

This year’s Mission X Space Game celebrates that momentum during a year of milestones: the 10th anniversary of UCF’s Space Game, the 20th season of the university’s on-campus football stadium, the 30th anniversary ɫ���� football’s rise to the highest division of collegiate athletics and the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Together, these milestones offer a chance to reflect on how far UCF has come — and look toward where Knights are headed next.

Across six decades, every breakthrough has built on what came before. The goalposts have moved from reaching the moon to sustaining life beyond it. New fields have joined the mission. Once-distant ideas have become experiments, breakthroughs and careers powered by Knights.

The moments that follow trace those threads across generations: then, the bold moves that launched UCF’s space legacy; now, the people and possibilities building on that foundation to push exploration even further.

1960s | Building the Space Workforce

1963: Florida Technological University, now UCF, is founded to provide talent for the growing space industry as the United States is challenged with landing a man on the moon before 1970.

Today: UCF is the No. 1 supplier of graduates to the nation’s aerospace and defense industries by Aviation Week. That impact is especially visible along Florida’s Space Coast, where 29% of Kennedy Space Center employees are UCF graduates.

1968: Classes begin across UCF’s original five colleges, with aerospace sciences among the university’s earliest degree programs.

Today: Space at UCF extends far beyond a single discipline. Students can choose from more than 35 space-related programs spanning business, engineering, hospitality, medicine, planetary science, optics and policy — preparing them for in-demand careers across the space sector.

1968: UCF receives its first research grant — $12,500 from NASA — establishing an early connection between the university and the agency.

Today: UCF has received $204 million in NASA awards since 1991, supporting work that advances planetary exploration, propulsion, space medicine, technologies and more. This underscores the strong decades-long collaboration between the university and the agency.

1970s | Connecting Education to Industry

1971: NASA employs 18 students through UCF’s Co-Operative Education initiative, which leverages the university’s metropolitan location to let students alternate quarters of study with off-campus work in their academic fields.

Today: UCF students are conducting hands-on research alongside Johnson Space Center astronauts and testing technology on the world’s largest simulated lunar surface.

These experiences strengthen students’ resumes while giving them workforce-ready skills and professional connections to step directly into the fast-growing space industry — and start contributing immediately.

1980s | Developing the Foundation of Space Medicine

1985: As rockets soared off Florida’s Space Coast for NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, UCF students were already exploring spaceflight’s impact on people. A group ɫ���� health sciences graduate students, including respiratory health alum Charles Gutierrez ’82 ’85MS, conducted experiments in labs on campus and on a field used as a makeshift launch site to understand how rockets impact heart and lung health. The research, published in The Physiologist, reflects UCF’s spirit of turning curiosity into action.

Today: Reaching farther into space requires an understanding of how humans will live, work and stay healthy there. As the closest medical school to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, UCF established the Led by Emmanuel Urquieta, vice chair of aerospace medicine and associate professor of medicine, the center brings together UCF experts across disciplines to lead research and develop technologies that will help humans prepare for longer missions to the moon, Mars and beyond. Urquieta also leads .

1990s | Creating a Place for Space

1990: UCF establishes the Space Education and Research Center, which later becomes the . The institute is a hub for space research, education and technology development connected to Florida’s space industry.

Today: FSI research ranges from studying the Earth’s upper atmosphere to the origin of the planets to propulsion technologies for aerospace vehicles. Through research, operations oversight and educational programs, the institute continues to position Florida as a global leader in the space industry and contributes to the state’s economic development.

Among its facilities is the , home to the world’s largest simulated lunar surface. Filled with 240,000 pounds of simulated lunar soil, the lab’s Lunar Highland Regolith Test Bin lets researchers, students and space organizations test how rovers, tools and other technologies perform on a moonlike surface.

1996: Robinson Observatory opens on UCF’s main campus, providing students and faculty a place to study planetary systems, asteroids and more. By 2004, it housed what the Orlando Sentinel described as the largest telescope in the Southeast open to the public.

Today: UCF researchers use observations from some of the world’s most powerful telescopes, including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, to investigate comets, asteroids, and the origins and evolution of our solar system.

2000s | Entering the Space Renaissance

2009: Engineering alum Nicole Stott ’92MS launches aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, becoming the first UCF graduate to fly aboard a NASA shuttle and live on the International Space Station.

Today: UCF is preparing students not only to travel to space, but also to build the industries, policies and experiences surrounding it.

Through the Barry S. Miller College of Business, students can earn the nation’s first fully online MBA in space commercialization. A Space Policy and Management course in the College of Community Innovation and Education examines the decisions and administrative mechanisms that help power the space industry. Students can help imagine the future of dining and hospitality in spaceports, shuttles and orbital hotels at the , a global leader in hospitality and tourism education.

2010s | Return to Liftoff

2017: Invigorated by a new uniform line and excitement around the hiring of Scott Frost as head coach in 2016, UCF Athletics decides to debut the Space Game — an idea conceptualized three years prior by UCF Athletics’ brand experience department.

“It’s a unique part of the UCF story that it was too good of an opportunity not to use the athletics platform to amplify,” Jimmy Skiles ’06 said in a 2022 article about the origin of the Space Game.

Today: The annual Space Game — which has crossed over into UCF’s other sports — has grown into a spectacular, fan favorite event that promotes our talented people, the revolutionary work done here and has laid the groundwork for what has become UCF Space Week.

2019: UCF sends five research projects into space with SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic flights after launch activity resumes in full force following the conclusion of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.

Today: UCF has worked with NASA on almost 600 projects since the 1990s, including the Lunar-VISE mission led by Associate Professor Kerri Donaldson Hanna and Department of Physics Chair Adrienne Dove. The $35 million project will land a spacecraft on a part of the moon never visited before: the Gruithuisen Domes.

2020s and Beyond

The next era of space exploration is already taking shape — and UCF is helping lead it.

NASA is targeting 2028 for the first crewed Artemis lunar landing. At the same time, commercial launches are accelerating — with the White House aiming to enable over 1,000 launches and reentries on American soil annually by 2030 — new markets are emerging, and the demand for space-ready talent and technology continues to grow. Our future on Earth will be shaped by our future advancements in space, and UCF will be an influential driver of that progress.

As the next phase of space exploration, launched in October 2024 as a first-of-its-kind partnership with the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, providing a centralized, physical space to advance hypersonic technology.

In May 2027, Knights from Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics aim to launch a rocket from sea through a partnership with Seagate. The ambitious effort aims to be to first sea-based launch by university students in the nation — an example of how we continue to forge a path forward for space exploration.

UCF is also helping connect Florida’s universities, NASA and industry through the Florida University Space Research Consortium. The partnership creates new paths for shared space research, technology development and workforce preparation tied to Kennedy Space Center — strengthening Florida’s ability to lead the United States’ future space efforts.

Six decades in, UCF’s space legacy is still being written — in classrooms, labs and places we are determined to reach.

Landing humans on the moon was just a dream when UCF was founded in 1963. But we dared to believe — developing the talent and inventing the technologies to make it reality. That same spirit still drives us today.

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

On a clear night, Teresa Kinney ’11MS can step into her backyard in Merritt Island, just a few miles from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and look toward the moon. Its illuminated gray and white surface is no longer just a distant destination — it represents the next chapter of human space exploration and her own engineering������������.

As transportation office program lead engineer in NASA’s Moon Base Program, the UCF alumna plays a critical role in the agency’s phased effort to establish America’s first permanent outpost near the moon’s South Pole. Her engineering team oversees the surface transportation systems needed to deliver cargo, move equipment across the lunar surface, support deep-space and orbital missions and ensure every component works together as part of the larger lunar architecture.

Kinney evaluates whether transportation concepts and designs are technically ready to advance and how they fit into NASA’s long-term vision for building and sustaining a lunar base.

“I make sure technically that the design is worthy of moving forward to the next phase, that we’re looking at all the right thermal, dynamic and radiation environments and making sure the integration of hardware, including electronics and other parts, is coming together the proper way,” Kinney says.

Engineering a Moon Base

NASA’s Moon Base Program is designed to evolve from robotic and early uncrewed missions to semi-permanent infrastructure, early habitation and, eventually, a sustained human presence on the lunar surface. Every phase depends on reliable transportation systems capable of delivering the hardware and supplies needed to build, operate and maintain a base hundreds of thousands (238,855) of miles from Earth.

For Kinney, success depends on how every system works together. Landers must deliver the right payloads. Surface vehicles can transport equipment once it arrives. Orbital and deep-space transportation systems must support the broader mission. Each piece must perform safely on its own while also working within the overall architecture.

“I was surprised by the logistical complexity of maintaining a permanent presence on the International Space Station,” Kinney says. “I guess I shouldn’t have been — it’s like going on a month’s-long camping trip when you’re used to camping for long weekends. You need a lot more for that longer duration because you can’t just make do for an extended period. You think you’re prepared, but then you realize there are things you didn’t expect to need and things you wish you had with you. I think we’ll learn those same kinds of lessons from Moon Base, and I’m excited and ready to get started.”

Kinney also serves as project chief engineer for the Liquid Oxygen-Methane Assessment, a joint initiative involving NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Space Force. As the project’s final technical authority, she’s helping quantify the explosive yield and risks associated with the large quantities of liquid oxygen and methane carried by next-generation rockets and spacecraft, including human landing systems, particularly during catastrophic failures or other anomalies. The data will help inform safety protocols for spacecraft, launch sites and surrounding communities.

Whether she’s assessing lunar transportation architecture or helping government agencies better understand the risks of cryogenic propellants, Kinney’s work comes down to the same challenge: understanding how complex systems behave, where they can fail and how engineers can make them safer.

A Curiosity That Started Early

That instinct to understand how the pieces fit together began early.

” … my dad slid me up under the dashboard and started handing me parts. At some point I realized, ‘I can do this.’”

At 8, Kinney started helping her father work on cars. By 12, she was small enough to slide under the dashboard of the family’s Chevrolet station wagon and install its air-conditioning system before a summer trip to Florida.

“We were living in Alabama and were going to [Walt] Disney World [Resort] but couldn’t make the drive to Florida without air conditioning,” Kinney says. “I was small enough that my dad slid me up under the dashboard and started handing me parts, asking me to connect things. At some point I realized, ‘I can do this.’ It was the first time I had ever completed a mechanical task entirely on my own.”

That experience sparked an interest in solving complex problems, shaping her career and allowing her to do what she enjoys most: putting things together.

Career Takes Off

Before becoming a NASA civil servant at Kennedy Space Center in 2005, Kinney earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and spent two decades supporting the space shuttle solid rocket booster, Spacelab and International Space Station programs as a contractor at Marshall Space Flight Center.

As a structural dynamicist at NASA, she embraced the challenges of loads analysis and modal testing of large space structures while enjoying the freedom to explore new ideas and uncover innovative solutions.

“I never had any roadblocks in front of me,” Kinney says. “They were like, ‘Here’s the work. Here’s your part of it, Teresa. If you have problems, come and talk to us.’ No one ever treated me in a way that wasn’t wonderful and supportive.”

UCF Landing

As her career evolved, Kinney realized technical expertise alone wasn’t enough if she ever wanted to lead an interdisciplinary team. With UCF’s longstanding presence at Kennedy Space Center, she knew where to turn.

“UCF has a great reputation and the proximity, but it took me years to say, ‘OK, start doing a master’s,’” Kinney says.

While working full-time, she attended most classes at KSC through a special program, often balancing 60- to 70-hour workweeks as she earned her master’s degree in industrial engineering.

“You never know what opportunities might be waiting in front of you.”

Kinney applies that same dedication to everything she does, whether she’s building bookcases with her husband — a retired NASA engineer she met while working at NASA (MSFC) — or encouraging young people to pursue careers in space exploration. She offers the same advice she gave her daughter, Julia Kinney ’19, a UCF biomedical sciences graduate who works at a cancer center, and her son, Jackson, an aerospace engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center.

“Don’t be intimidated,” Kinney says. “Don’t see things as too hard — see them as challenges. You never know what opportunities might be waiting in front of you.”

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

What will astronauts eat on Mars? How have books and movies fueled our fascination with space? And how much space pride can we pack into Acrisure Bounce House?

There’s a whole week to explore the answers.

Beginning Oct. 25, the second annual UCF Space Week puts the university’s founding mission in the spotlight: advancing the United States’ space program and preparing the people who’ll take it further. Today, that work spans labs, classrooms and industries, driving discovery and supporting Florida’s growing space economy. UCF Space Week brings that industry connection to campus, welcoming global space leaders, researchers, students, partners and fans for a celebration of ideas and discovery.

Explore ideas for life beyond Earth, revisit the curiosity and bold determination behind historic achievements and join traditions that bring UCF’s space legacy to life, culminating in the UCF football team’s 10th annual Space Game.

Cue up the curated by UCF Libraries faculty, staff and students, then make room on your calendar to experience UCF Space Week 2026.

Space Industry Events

Sunday, Oct. 25

National Space Society Space Settlement Summit
Running through Monday, Oct. 26, this two-day summit explores the challenges and innovations shaping lunar settlement and exploration. Hosted in partnership with the National Space Society, it features technical panels, visionary talks and networking opportunities centered on the moon and cislunar space.

Monday, Oct. 26

UCF Innovate Day
The inaugural UCF Innovate Day showcases how UCF transforms research into real-world impact through entrepreneurship, technology commercialization and strategic partnerships. Explore breakthrough ideas, hear pitches from emerging innovators and connect with industry leaders helping shape the future of innovation in Central Florida and beyond.

Tuesday, Oct. 27

SpaceU Symposium
Leaders, researchers and students from across Florida will discuss the latest innovations and research driving the future of space science.

UCF SpaceU Awards Dinner
The university’s second annual SpaceU Awards Dinner will recognize excellence and innovation within the UCF space ecosystem, including key partners, industry leaders, and outstanding faculty and students.

The Economist’s 4th Annual Space Economy Summit
The fourth annual Space Economy Summit brings the space sector together with the industries it’s beginning to reshape. Over two days, senior leaders from business, government, and investment will examine how space-enabled tools can solve problems on Earth, what customers need before they adopt them, and how partnerships can move promising technologies from impressive pilots to everyday use.

Community Events

Monday, Oct. 26

Space in the Popular Imagination
John C. Hitt Library | 1–3 p.m.

Explore how literature and film have imagined the cosmos — and our place in it — during a panel spanning literature and film from the early 20th century to today.

Moderated by UCF Associate Librarian Michael Furlong ’22EdD, the discussion features Michael Taylor, writer and emeritus faculty member in UCF’s School of Data, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences; Barry Sandler, screenwriter, filmmaker and associate professor in UCF’s Nicholson School of Communication and Media; and Adrienne Dove, planetary scientist, professor and chair ɫ����’s Department of Physics and co-host of the Walkabout the Galaxy podcast. Visit the for more information.

Knights Under the Stars: Full Moon Observation
Robinson Observatory | 7:30–9 p.m.

Whether you’re a space enthusiast or simply curious, join an evening of and share in the excitement of a fully illuminated moon.

Tuesday, Oct. 27

Movie Night: Starman (2025)
John C. Hitt Library | 5–7 p.m.

Are we alone in the universe? NASA robotics engineer and best-selling science fiction author Gentry Lee has spent a lifetime wondering. This documentary follows his search for answers and the conclusion he reaches at age 82. Learn more about the film and watch its trailer on the .

Wednesday, Oct. 28

Mars to Table: Feeding the Future of Human Space Exploration
John C. Hitt Library | 1:30–3 p.m.

Join UCF Associate Professor Amy Gregory ’11PhD and Chef Cesar Rivera-Cruzado from as they showcase the university’s Closed-Loop Culinary Ecosystem, a Mars food system that brings together food production, culinary experience, behavioral health and crew performance. Learn more on the .

Thursday, Oct. 29

Movie Night: Hidden Figures (2016)
John C. Hitt Library | 5–7 p.m.

Behind a milestone in American spaceflight were brilliant mathematicians. Hidden Figures tells the story of three Black women at NASA whose work played a pivotal role in sending astronaut John Glenn into orbit. Learn more about the film on the .

SpaceU Drone Show
Memory Mall | 7 p.m.

Gather on Memory Mall as synchronized drones illuminate the night in a display celebrating UCF’s space legacy and spirit of discovery. Presented by Pegasus Partner BNY, the show brings the campus community together for an evening of wonder and SpaceU pride.

Friday, Oct. 30

UCF Space Hospitality Student Challenge
UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management – Disney Dining Room | 9 a.m.–12 p.m.

What will dinner, sleep and an unforgettable guest experience look like in orbit? Discover how UCF students envision the answers at the ’s Final Pitch Day.

The event caps Rosen College’s inaugural eight-week competition challenging students across disciplines to make life in space more habitable. Hear a keynote address and industry panel, watch the top three teams pitch their concepts to industry judges and explore more student ideas at a poster showcase.

UCF Space Game: Knights vs. Baylor
Acrisure Bounce House | 7:30–11 p.m.

UCF Football takes on Baylor in the 10th annual Space Game, concluding Space Week with a tradition that turns our space legacy into a stadium-wide celebration. Since its debut in 2017, . Building the anticipation is the reveal of the 2026 UCF Space Game uniform, which honors NASA’s earliest missions and brings SpaceU’s legacy to life on the field. Cheer on our football team in the stadium or tune in on ESPN. For the latest updates, visit .

Explore All Week

These weeklong exhibits and activities offer more ways to connect with UCF’s space story.

From Orbit to Archives Exhibit
John C. Hitt Library | Fourth-Floor gallery

Visit the Special Collections & University Archives exhibit for a look at UCF’s space heritage and history behind the SpaceU identity we celebrate today.

SpaceU: A Universe of Possibilities Exhibit
John C. Hitt Library | Second-Floor Gallery Wall

Check out the curiosity driving UCF forward. This exhibit highlights some of the many projects UCF faculty and students are working on, offering a glimpse of the ideas taking shape across America’s Space University.

Space Out in the Digital Exploration Center
John C. Hitt Library | Digital Exploration Center, Immersion Studio

Step into the Immersion Studio for space-themed meditative experiences designed to help students relax and recharge.

Space Movies Social Media Bracket Challenge
Which space movie deserves the top spot? Put your favorite films in the running in an interactive social media bracket challenge. Follow along as contenders compete for the title of best space movie and find out if your pick goes the distance.

Find the Hidden Citronaut
John C. Hitt Library

Set out on a self-paced scavenger hunt to find the hidden Citronaut as you explore library spaces and uncover fun SpaceU facts along the way.

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

With world-renowned faculty, hands-on learning experiences and a location less than an hour from Florida’s Space Coast, UCF continues to prove why it’s America’s Space University — where education, industry and exploration unite to shape the future of space.

Oct. 25 marks the start of the second UCF Space Week, a university-wide celebration of all the ways Knight Nation boldly pushes space forward. The observance highlights UCF’s vital role in advancing space research, supporting Florida’s fast-growing space economy, and preparing the next generation of explorers, engineers, and entrepreneurs.

Here are a few key reasons why we celebrate UCF Space Week and how SpaceU is launching the next era of space innovation.

A Legacy in Fueling the Space Industry’s Talent Pipeline

When the university first opened in 1963, landing humans on the moon was a dream that seemed out of reach. Yet UCF dared to believe — and take action — by supplying talent and research to the nearby space industry based on the Space Coast just 35 miles east. UCF’s purpose has only grown stronger more than six decades later as space exploration fuels transformative innovation here on Earth.

Every year, thousands of students gain real-world experience, conduct interdisciplinary research and participate in programs — including the aerospace medicine program — directly connected to industry, preparing them for in-demand roles across the space sector.

The university’s excellence in providing talent is supported by data, as the American Society of Engineering Education consistently ranks UCF in the top five nationally for awarding bachelor’s degrees in (2025):

• Aerospace engineering (No. 4)
• Mechanical engineering (No. 5)
• Computer science (No. 5)
• And No. 10 for awarding engineering bachelor’s degrees overall — the highest in Florida

Advancing Research That Reaches New Frontiers

When visionaries look to the future, they also look to UCF — a leader in space research, innovation and education with 14 experiments sent to space aboard commercial rockets since 2016. UCF Space Week spotlights these breakthroughs, connecting the community with the pioneering work happening right on campus.

Studying Aging in Space

Researcher: Professor Michal Masternak, College of Medicine
Project: Masternak and his team study how the extreme conditions of space affect human aging and health. By simulating microgravity and space radiation, the researchers identified molecular changes associated with accelerated aging, offering insights that could help protect astronauts on long-duration missions and inform future therapies for age-related diseases on Earth.

Unlocking Lunar Resources

Researchers: Planetary Geologist and Associate Professor Kerri Donaldson Hanna and Interim Department Chair of Physics and Associate Professor Adrienne Dove
Project: Donaldson Hanna and Dove are leading NASA’s Lunar-VISE (Lunar Vulkan Imaging Spectroscopy Explorer) mission, which aims to uncover clues about an unexplored part of the moon and potential insight for deeper space exploration.

Detecting Habitable Worlds

Researcher: Professor Stephen Eikenberry, College of Optics and Photonics
Project: Eikenberry and his team are developing advanced photonics technology to help future space telescopes detect Earth-like planets hidden by the brightness of nearby stars. The NASA-funded project could improve scientists’ ability to directly observe potentially habitable worlds and search their atmospheres for signs of life.

Building Partnerships That Propel Discovery

UCF Space Week highlights these crucial collaborations with support from Blue Origin, KPMG, Lockheed Martin, Verizon, Space Florida and SpaceX.

At the heart ɫ����’s success is collaboration. The university works closely with NASA, government agencies, private companies, and research institutions to create opportunities that bridge education, research, and real-world application. These partnerships help students gain experience and industry insight while advancing technologies that will define the next phase of space exploration.

On Sept. 9, UCF partnered with the U.S. Space Force’s innovation enterprise to launch the . The effort strengthens connections between government, academia, industry and entrepreneurs to help promising ideas move faster from research to real-world capability.

UCF is also helping space‑related research, innovation and workforce development across through the Florida Space Research Consortium. Alain Berinstain, who joined UCF in January as director of the Florida Space Institute, now leads the eight-university initiative — underscoring UCF’s leadership and expertise in this evolving field.

Powering Florida’s Space Economy

Space is no longer just a frontier — it’s the future. With the global space economy projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, UCF is preparing the visionaries who will fuel discovery and shape that growth.

Now expanding its impact into the business of space, UCF is helping lead the business of space under the direction of Space Commercialization and Strategy Program Director Zaheer Ali . His work is building a pipeline of leaders ready to drive innovation, strengthen national security and unlock opportunities that will advance humanity’s future beyond Earth.

Reaching for What’s Next

UCF Space Week isn’t just about looking back at past achievements — it’s about imagining what comes next. With a legacy built on exploration and a community fueled by curiosity, UCF continues to inspire students and researchers to reach higher, think bolder and push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Because at UCF, space isn’t the final frontier — it’s just the beginning.

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate UCF Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

Anniversaries remind us of everything we’ve achieved, and of everything still possible. They tell us that to step forward, sometimes we must look back.

On the 10th anniversary of the Space Game, this year’s draw upon NASA’s beginnings and honor the courage it took to stand on the precipice of our greatest frontier.

The design was heavily influenced by the astronauts of NASA’s earliest human spaceflight missions Mercury, Gemini and Apollo during the 1960s when the university was founded.

John Young, an Orlando native, is the only astronaut to have flown during the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs. He received an honorary degree as the featured guest speaker at the university’s first commencement ceremony in 1970, two years before he became the ninth person to walk on the moon.

Learn more details about the Mission X Space Game uniforms at .

The Space Game is now one of the signature events of a larger Space Week held at the university.

UCF Space Week

Oct. 25 marks the start of the second UCF Space Week, a university-wide celebration of all the ways Knight Nation boldly pushes space forward. The observance highlights UCF’s vital role in advancing space research, supporting Florida’s fast-growing space economy, and preparing the next generation of explorers, engineers and entrepreneurs.

This year’s space week features summits in partnership with the National Space Society and The Economist, a space-themed drone show, the inaugural UCF Innovate Day and more.

2026 Space Game Matchup

The football team will face Baylor in the 10^th anniversary of the annual Space Game on Friday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. Tickets are available for purchase at .

UCF students can attend the game for free. A complete guide to student ticket information can be found at .