Executive Summary

In 2023, NASA marked a milestone with the 10th anniversary of their annual NASA Moves! step challenge, in collaboration with CorporateFitness.app. With the help of our native app and the pre-designed solar system virtual map, we were able to motivate and encourage NASA participants to engage in movement with a twist. Logging a total of nearly 700 million steps, over 65% of participants completed the trek across the solar system.

Key Figures

• Participants

  3,548

• Total Steps

  693,436,714

• # Teams

  543

• # Finishers

  2,386

About NASA

NASA is an independent agency of the U.S. government responsible for the nation’s civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. By offering resources such as fitness facilities, health screenings, mental health support services, and educational workshops, NASA endeavors to empower its employees to lead healthier lifestyles and achieve a better work-life balance.

Problem Statement

For the 10th annual NASA Moves! challenge, NASA was looking for a partner to help motivate, encourage, and engage participants to incorporate more movement into their daily lives. About choosing CorporateFitness.app for this iteration, Hanna, the Health Promotion, Wellness, and Fitness Specialist at NASA, shared: “What attracted us to CorporateFitness were the competitive price points and their concept of organizing a ‘walk around the solar system’ trek for participants. We found this to be a unique and creative addition for our 10th anniversary challenge!”

Solution

The NASA team was looking for a reliable, engaging, and easy-to-use platform to encourage more participation in their annual step challenge. Individual and team progress was displayed on a map of the solar system.

Key Success Factors

Customization: More than 2,300 individuals successfully completed the solar system trek featured on our platform. This allowed participants to earn unique planet badges, specially crafted for NASA, as they reached stepping milestones throughout the challenge.

Ease of use: Success of the challenge was in large part due to the overall positive experience provided by the mobile app. One participant shared, “The mobile app made logging steps from anywhere very convenient, instead of having to wait until I was on my computer.”

Interactive elements: Participants also praised the interactive features available in the Event Feed, with one participant stating, “It was nice to attach photos and exchange messages with my teammates and other participants.”

Activity to Step Conversion: Participants of the NASA Moves! challenge particularly appreciated the ability to convert all types of activities, including gym sessions, yoga, and martial arts, into steps. This allowed everyone to participate in their preferred way, regardless of their fitness abilities and preferences.

Results

The 2023 edition of the challenge experienced a surge in participation, boasting over 3,500 participants and 543 teams formed. The NASA community achieved an impressive milestone by logging a total of 693 million steps.

Intra-company collaboration: More than 500 teams participated in the step challenge, with collaboration across the different NASA locations.

Future Plans

As the annual NASA Moves! challenge remains an integral part of the company wellness culture, we look forward to partnering with the NASA community for future challenges. Based on feedback from the participants we are adding a lifestyle component to the challenge in 2024. This will allow participants to set a daily step goal and increase it over time to encourage them to move more.

Conclusion

The collaboration between NASA and CorporateFitness.app was a strong determinant in the sustained participation and engagement of the NASA community in the 2023 NASA Moves! challenge. The ease-of-use, customization, and interactive elements of the app motivated participants to strive towards a collective movement goal. The 2024 edition is scheduled to start in April 2024.