If you ever dreamed of taking an active role in defending earth against asteroids or having a “selfie” sent to space so you could get a picture of yourself with Earth orbiting in the background — you just missed your chance. However, 17,614 other people didn’t. They came together and raised over $1.5 million dollars on Kickstarter to build the world’s first ever publicly accessible telescope. According to their website, you still may have a chance to get in on the action.

Everyone will get to see what the telescope is up to and what images it’s capturing. The idea is that not only will the telescope be helpful in monitoring potential risks to Earth, it’ll also be a way to get students and the public engaged and interested in space exploration. Having an active role is a lot more exciting than simply seeing what other people are up to out there.

The folks who backed the project not only will get their space bound selfie (or other photo of their choice) they’ll have a say in how the telescope is used. They’ll also have access to the process of building the telescope and updates on the progress of the project.

Check out the video below to learn more about the project.