The best week of the year is finally upon us. The UCF Knights (or 'Nauts for this week) will don the newest iteration of the team's space uniforms on Friday against Memphis for the 2021 Space Game.
This year's uniforms honor the 40th anniversary of the Space Shuttle program and do so with some amazing details that come together for the cleanest space look yet. The all-white uniform features chrome decals to match with a new chrome facemask, as well as an incredible helmet stripe comprised of the names of UCF alumni, faculty and fans who worked on the shuttle program.
It's been really special over the last week to watch many fans on social media find out that their name will be taking the field with the team on Friday.
The ties to the shuttle are on full display throughout the jersey and pants as well. This year's mission patch is fixed on the right sleeve, with the left sleeve featuring the American flag to mimic the wings of the Space Shuttle. The wing pattern is emulated on the pants as well (with a little Canaveral Blue thrown in, of course).
The collar does an awesome job of playing off the nose of the shuttle as well, but the coolest feature of the jerseys is the new number set designed just for this game. The numbers are almost exact copies of the Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System tiles. The set includes all 135 shuttle missions written out across the 10 numbers.
What makes this year's version of the space uniform so unique is that it has so much meaning packed into every inch of it. There isn't a stripe or line or color that doesn't hold some form of meaning, whether it represents the shuttles or UCF's ties to space.
And yet it is the cleanest, sleekest space uniform yet. Everything flows together perfectly to create a look that is flat out epic even if you don't know a thing about what went into designing it. That is a remarkable feat to pull off.
It's hard to believe that this is really the fifth year of UCF dropping amazing space uniforms. What started as a groundbreaking set of photographic moon and constellation decals back in 2017 has grown into an annual tradition of wearing a complete alternate uniform that blows anything else in college football out of the water.
UCF's ability to continue to innovate and create uniforms that are not just awesome but meaningful is why this school is proudly not just SpaceU, but DripU as well.
Space Uniform Trivia
- UCF is 4-0 in Space Games and has won every game by double digits
- This is the first Space Game to feature a unique number set
- As far as photo records indicate, this is the second time that UCF will not wear a black facemask for a game. The first time was the 2019 Space Game
- This is just the second all-color space uniform, following the blackout uniform from 2018
- When the University of Central Florida was first being built, the new school was commonly referred to as "Space U"