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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...-facility.html

Astronaut training co. Waypoint 2 Space to build Space Experience Center at Exploration Park near NASA

By Jishnu Nair – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Nov 25, 2024

A new facility to allow the general public to experience astronaut training is in the works near NASA Johnson Space Center.
Waypoint 2 Space, a company that has received Federal Aviation Association licensing for astronaut training courses, is in discussions to build a 35,000-square-foot training facility known as the Space Experience Center on the new Exploration Park development outside JSC, according to President and CEO Kevin Heath.

The new building will be open to the public with the goal of adding an interactive component for guests at Space Center Houston, the visitor arm of NASA Johnson Space Center. After the first building opens, future facilities could be franchised out, similar to private skydiving experience iFly, Heath said.

“The one thing I've always wanted to do was figure out a way to get me to space,” Heath said in an interview with the Houston Business Journal. “But I'm not rich, and I'm not brilliant. So, I started looking around, trying to figure out an area that I could add value and cater to people like me.”

Heath added that he raised $1 million in a 2021 seed round., and the company is offering 6% Convertible Preferred Series A shares totaling $10 million. Waypoint 2 Space has also applied for a Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium, or TARSEC, grant, which pulls from $150 million in state funding for Texas-based aerospace proposals.

Heath is targeting a March 2025 groundbreaking for the building, which would open in 2026. That timeline would line up with the nearby Texas A&M University Space Institute, a $200 million building that broke ground this month with the goal of testing commercial space landers.

Earlier this year, NASA announced that Austin-based ACMI will develop over 200 acres of land at Exploration Park, which is incentivized to bring commercial companies closer to JSC. Heath confirmed that ACMI would be the company building the Space Experience Center and that the parties have signed a letter of intent.