The Student Astronaut Challenge

The Student Astronaut Challenge is an aero-space based competition sponsored by Florida State University and presented with cooperation from NASA and the Kennedy Space Center. The focus of the competition is the mobile Space Flight Simulator which was designed to replicate the retired NASA Space Shuttle.   

For the last six years, up to 200 Middle and High school students each year have converged at the Kennedy Space Center in February to compete in the Astronaut Challenge. Teams from as far south as Miami to as far north as Savanah, Georgia have traveled to Titusville to see who has the right stuff. In 2015 and 2017 guest teams from Dublin, Ireland traveled to the Kennedy Space Center to compete in the competition.   

Event one is a hands-on challenge where students are provided an aerospace related problem. Working as two teams – mission control and Skylab flight crew - they are required to use teamwork and collaboration to solve a series of challenges and reach a solution.  

Event Two previously known as the Lab Challenge, is a physical design challenge to solve a specific space-related issue. Teams submit a typed design proposal due approximately 2 weeks before the finals competition and present their solution, including a prototype model, to a team of judges during the competition.

Event Three consists of three rounds (including a semi-final and final) where teams are required to perform the pre-flight operation, launch, orbit and landing of the Space Shuttle flight simulator and the operation and responsibilities of the mission control team. During the semi-final and final rounds, students are provided with in-flight emergencies that must be managed to safely complete their mission.    

Event Four consists of two rounds (including run-offs and finals) where team members work in pairs to perform one of three types of landings of the Space Shuttle Enterprise flight simulator and the operation and responsibilities of the mission control team. 

Event Five is a design challenge to create a team flight patch related to a specific space-related theme. Teams will submit a color drawing of their patch along with a typed design description due approximately 2 weeks before the finals competition. The patch design will be judged based on NASA's mission flight patch criteria and its relevance to the theme.