Cohu Experience’s upcoming mobile app will allow anyone to test their astronaut skills with a range of mental, physical and social exercises.
Cohu Experience has announced that its crowd-funding campaign has ended after raising a record-breaking almost 3.2 million euros from 535 private investors in Finland.
The Helsinki-based start-up, which was established to promote public participation in the commercial space industry, reveals in a press release that the first one million euros was raised in no more than 43 minutes.
The raised funds will be used to launch an astronaut training programme in the latter half of 2017. The Space Nation Astronaut Training Programme (SNAP) was developed in collaboration with astronaut trainers at NASA to offer everyone the opportunity to enter a competition to take part in real-world astronaut training and – eventually – travel to space.
The idea is that anyone can begin the training by downloading the free mobile application after its scheduled launch later this year.
The users with the highest scores in the mental, physical and social tests included in the application will be selected to take part in a competitive training programme under the supervision of trainers that is to be broadcast in several countries around the world.
“We succeeded above expectations and will thus be able to finalise our training app, promote the growth of our global team, begin shooting the programme on three continents and organise our first space flight,” rejoices Kalle Vähä-Jaakkola, the co-founder and chief executive at Cohu Experience.
The start-up’s advisory board has members ranging from Michael Suffredini, a former director at the International Space Station (ISS), to ice hockey player turned investor Saku Koivu and ex-mighty eagle Peter Vesterbacka.
“Space Nation is more than just a space adventure: it unites people all over the world to develop themselves and dare to reach for their dreams,” comments Koivu.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT Photo: Handout / Cohu Experience Source: Uusi Suomi
