Final Design Projects & Culinary Review

Congrats to the finalist teams! We look forward to seeing you in Houston to share what you have created with NASA engineers, astronauts, and colleagues.

This '26-27 school years final reviews will be held May 4th-6th, 2027.

Until then, continue to work on your projects and foods leading up to the final review. Use the feedback given during the Critical Design Review (CDR) to make improvements to your designs and continue testing to validate that your prototype meets the design specifications. Keep testing recipes and polishing the plating.

Below you will find lists of important things to know and do before the final review. Please familiarize yourselves with it to make your project and your time in Houston as best as it can be. At the bottom of this page under "Resources," you can find a printable packet of all this information.

Thanks for your great work, teachers and students. We eagerly await your final showcases!

Before the Final Review

• For Biomed, Software, and Design & Prototype, please fill out the Pre-Registration Google Form. Each person attending needs to do this (teachers, chaperones, and students). This helps us assign table numbers and write the correct information for certificates and recommendation letters (full names, etc.).

• Refer to the lists related to your project's and challenge’s check list below on this page of pre-FDR to-do’s, as well as updated information for the week of FDR
• Make sure to rehearse your presentation
• Know that you are presenting to NASA engineers, astronauts, and aerospace subject matter experts – this is your chance to convince them of the value of your ideas
• Some of these attendees may be limited in their time, so be sure to have a 1 minute “elevator speech” where you can cover the key points of your project in a short amount of time

• Make sure every team member participates in the presentation

• Highlight the innovative details that make your project or dish stand out

• Do not include your personal contact information on any presented materials; use your school email or your teacher’s

• If needed, please bring your own hot spot for internet
• Be sure to test your hot spot with your project prior to the final review

• Please let your HUNCH mentor or program manager know if you plan to leave any projects with us after the final review

Travel & Lodging

If you are traveling by air, it is recommended to fly into Hobby Airport. It is on the south side of Houston and only a 25-30 minute commute to Johnson Space Center (JSC) by car.

Another option is to fly into Bush International Airport. This is a further drive with traffic, going through the city of Houston.

There are numerous hotels close to JSC and some are within walking distance of Space Center Houston (SCH). Here are a few that schools routinely use:

• Courtyard By Marriott NASA/Clear Lake (directly across the street from SCH)

• Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake

• Extended Stay America Suites – NASA-Johnson Space Center

• SpringHill Suites NASA/Webster

Day of FDR, Flight Configuration, and Culinary Review

Addresses:

• Space Center Houston (includes Rocket Park): 1601 E. NASA Pkwy, Houston, TX 77058

• Lone Star Flight Museum: 11551 Aerospace Ave, Houston, TX 77034
  

Final Review Locations and Dates:

• Culinary – Space Center Houston (SCH) in the cafeteria – DATE TBD
  

• Design & Prototype (D&P) – JSC Rocket Park Saturn 5 Building – DATE TBD
  

• Biomedical Engineering (BioMed) and Software/Cybersecurity – JSC Rocket Park Saturn 5 Building – DATE TBD

• Flight Configuration – Lone Star Flight Museum – DATE TBD
  
  

Important Things to Know

Parking:

For Culinary, Design & Prototype, Biomedical, and Software/Cybersecurity teams, you must use this link to validate your parking in order to not be charged for parking at SCH. If you leave SCH and come back, you will need to use the link again and re-validate your parking. https://validation.metropolis.io/kbmuvgnnje (You can only use this link once you are in the parking lot.)
For Flight Configuration teams, parking at the Lone Star Flight Museum is free.

Tours:

We highly recommend leaving time for your class to visit and explore SCH, which also provides tram ride tours of several buildings within JSC. If you'd like to reserve a tram tour after FDR is complete, you will need to go to the service desk inside SCH and request to get your name and your students’ names on a tram for the afternoon. It is best to do this when you first arrive at SCH if possible, or when it opens at 10am.

Talks:

HUNCH mentor and Culinary Project Manager, Alli Westover, will present on space physiology and food science at 1:30PM on day TBD. We invite all students, teachers, and parents to attend for an informative and engaging talk. It is located in the SCH Mission Control Room.

Lunch & Food:

You may bring your lunch or snacks with you to SCH, Rocket Park, and Lone Star Flight Museum. For those at Rocket Park, you are not allowed to eat inside the Rocket Park facility; there will be some picnic tables with tents outside of the building where you can have your food. At Lone Star Flight Museum, there will be tables inside and outside the café area; food is not allowed inside the hanger area.

• All students are encouraged to bring snacks
  
• At Rocket Park,
  
• SCH provides water bottles for the students
  
• Vending machines have limited options inside Rocket Park
  
• Students should bring a lunch or send an adult to pick up lunch
  

• In SCH, there is a full cafeteria and seating area
  
• Please note, depending on tram service it may take ~30min-1hr to ride to and from SCH and Rocket Park
  

• At Lone Star Flight Museum, there is a small café with limited options plus the ability to pre-order box lunches. Drinks are also available in the gift shop.
• Note: Please make sure at least one student from your team is always manning your project area when others go to eat, snack, or refresh
  

Bathrooms:

• Space Center Houston – designated bathrooms are in the cafeteria area and in other areas within the SCH building
  

• JSC Rocket Park – bathrooms are located in a small building outside of the Saturn 5 Building
  
• WARNING: Please do not leave the fenced area of Rocket Park during the FDR. It is illegal to walk between Rocket Park and SCH; you must use a tram.
  

• Lone Star Flight Museum – designated bathrooms are located within the museum’s side hallways
  
  

Attire:

Please come dressed appropriately (business casual, school uniforms, or team shirts/outfits). We highly recommend wearing comfortable shoes for the day of.

Other Notes:

• Teachers, be sure to grab your certificate folder for your students from your mentor or the registration table.
  

• Teachers, make sure you and your students visit the NASA HUNCH table to sign the Single Stowage Locker top that will fly to space!
  
  

Two weeks before the final review, we will send out a floor map of the Culinary area, the Rocket Park Saturn 5 Building, and Lone Star Flight Museum, showing the location of numbered tables with a list of teams, so you can easily find your assigned location. The Lone Star Flight Museum may not have the hanger identified at this time, but all tables will be identified by school and project on the day of the review.

If you have questions regarding any aspect of the Final Design and Culinary Review, please contact your regional HUNCH mentor.

See you all then!