Building the nation’s future workforce
High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware, or HUNCH, is a NASA workforce development program operated in partnership with Voyager Technologies. HUNCH provides high school students across the country with real-world, hands-on experience designing, engineering and fabricating items for use in space. The program allows students to develop technical and professional skills that align with the nation’s future workforce needs.
To date, HUNCH has engaged more than 24,000 students from more than 1,700 schools in 46 states. More than 3,000 student-created items have flown to the International Space Station, or ISS, demonstrating the value of this practical, scalable investment in workforce development.
HUNCH programs are designed to mirror apprenticeship-style training, giving students direct exposure to high-demand fields. Through structured mentorship, real-world project-based learning and manufacturing, students engage in:
Image Credit: NASA
Students design, prototype and fabricate products for space.
Image Credit: NASA
Students build software applications based on project prompts sourced from crew feedback and subject matter experts to solve real needs for astronauts on the ISS and Artemis Missions.
Image Credit: NASA
Students solve real-world problems for NASA, everything from hardware and software projects to requested items from Crew Systems.
Image Credit: NASA
Students participate in a challenge to craft video content aligned with NASA missions and awareness for careers in aerospace.
Image Credit: NASA
Teams participate in a challenge to develop shelf-stable recipes that meet space nutrition guidelines, collaborating with NASA’s Food Lab to bring student creations to space.
Image Credit: NASA
Teams participate in a challenge to develop shelf-stable recipes that meet space nutrition guidelines, collaborating with NASA’s Food Lab to bring student creations to space.
Image Credit: NASA
Students explore the physiological impacts of long-duration spaceflight and propose solutions for future deep-space exploration to the moon and Mars.
Image Credit: NASA
Students work with NASA engineers to translate prototype designs into final-flight configuration drawings and 3D prints that meet flight standards.
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Curriculum is provided to K-8 students that prepares them for future participation in the HUNCH program.
Image Credit: NASA
The Acme Thread Cleaning Kit is a toolkit that supports astronauts when they go on EVA’s – or spacewalks. This tool set is used to remove any debris or metal shavings from the threads that may cause an increase in torque when the new equipment is installed.
Image Credit: NASA
The HUNCH US Hygiene Kits were designed and developed by HUNCH students upon the request of the ISS Crew Office at the Johnson Space Center. These kits are also fabricated by HUNCH students. They are made up of eight unique and intricate subassemblies consisting of various pockets and special compartments attached to a carrier panel with Velcro strips. Arrangement of the pockets can be customized by each crew member for organization of their personal hygiene items, such as soap, shampoo, toothbrush, hair comb, etc. aboard the ISS. Each new crew member is assigned their own HUNCH US Hygiene Kit as part of their personal mission provisions when they launch to the ISS. Eighteen US Hygiene Kits were delivered to the ISS Cargo Mission Contract (CMC) on August 31, 2023, to support Crew Provisions inventory.
The Galley Table project was proposed by NASA to add a center piece the the “kitchen” on board the International Space Station to replace the historically used surface that was cobbled together by astronauts when the need first arose many years ago. The table had to be sturdy, easy to clean, collapsible, light weight, and meet all of NASA’s strict safety and material standards for flight hardware. Designed and machined by HUNCH, the table was launched into space in 2016, where it received a very warm welcome by the astronauts on the Space Station.
Astronauts use their feet to lock themselves in place while floating in microgravity to get their work done. However, they were experiencing a lot of discomfort and blistering on the top of their feet. HUNCH created crew footpads to help eliminate this problem. These shoe-like pads protect the top of the foot from pressure when utilizing railing to maintain location.