Excalibur Almaz has secured an unfunded Space Act Agreement to work with NASA on Commercial Crew development:

• Soviet hardware enters NASA CCDev initiative -- Aviation Week
• Excalibur Almaz gets an unfunded CCDev agreement -- Newspace Journal

Slides are about a year old, but still worth a look...

Videos from Excalibur Almaz open day at Jurby, Isle of Man on June 17th.

Corporate promo video:

(Source: Facebook, via Philip Mills)

The BBC has a video report featuring Tim Craine, Director of Economic Development for the Isle of Man, discussing Excalibur Almaz, their ex-Russian space station hardware, and their plans for space tourism.

• Manx company to offer holidays in space -- BBC Online

(Source: SpaceRef)

DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN, June 6, 2011 -- For the first time since arriving on the Isle of Man, Excalibur Almaz Limited will showcase its two space stations and Reusable Return Vehicle (RRV) to the general public June 18.

The space stations, one a near-completed test unit and the other a space station frame, arrived from Russia earlier this year and have been undergoing evaluation and testing at a former Royal Air Force Station hangar in Jurby. The RRV is the other element of EA's family of space systems that will be on display. It will serve as the transport vehicle to and from the space stations in orbit. The public event will provide visitors the opportunity to tour EA's facility in Jurby, speak with EA representatives, and learn more about the future of the commercial space industry.

The public viewing hours on Saturday will be from 10am-5pm at Unit 267, Jurby Industrial Estate, Jurby, Isle of Man, British Isles. Prior to the public event media representatives will have an opportunity to view the stations and interview EA spokesperson Cosmonaut Valery Tokarev June 16-17. For more information contact media@excaliburalmaz.com.

About Excalibur Almaz:

Excalibur Almaz's mission is to become the world leader in providing reliable, affordable and routine access to space for exploration, experimentation, and tourism for customers around the world. EA plans to accomplish this by leveraging proven flight tested products and systems from US, European, and Russian space programs to create value, reduce costs, and development time.

(Source: Excalibur Almaz press release)

Excalibur Almaz Limited in conjunction with the Isle of Man Government hosted a media event to showcase two recently arrived space stations on April 26-27. The space stations, one a completed test unit and the other a near-complete space station frame, are owned by the Isle of Man commercial space company, Excalibur Almaz Limited.

The stations arrived from Russia in January and are housed at a Royal Air Force Station hanger in Jurby. The two day media event provided reporters the opportunity to tour EA's operations at the Jurby facility and speak with EA spokesperson Cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, and Tim Craine, director of the Business Development Agency for the Isle of Man Government Department of Economic Development.

More on recent developments with Excalibur Almaz on the Isle of Man:

• Fledgling space firm will use old Soviet gear -- New Scientist
• Plans for space stations not yet decided -- isleofman.com
• Interview with Leroy Chiao
• Space stations land in Jurby! -- Manx Radio

(Source: Excalibur Almaz)

DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN, January 5, 2011 -- Excalibur Almaz Limited (EA), the international commercial space exploration company, is exporting two partially completed Almaz space stations from Russia to the IOM today. The stations and Excalibur Almaz’ reusable return vehicles were developed by EA’s Russian associate, JSC MIC NPO Mashinostroyenia.

The stations will be initially stored, followed by research, testing and possibly completion and launch to orbit. EA’s initial flights to orbit will be in the flight tested Excalibur Almaz Reusable Return Vehicles joined to and supported by service module living and working habitats. The space stations themselves are part of EA’s long-term business plan. It is not economically feasible to launch and sustain them on orbit until the company’s flight rate reaches six or more flights per year. In addition to space tourism, the updated space stations could provide platforms for microgravity scientific experimentation to serve governments and academic institutions.

EA Founder and CEO Art Dula said, “This is another significant landmark towards achieving our stated goals with continuing technical support from leading aerospace firms in the US, Europe and Japan."

"We're very excited at this latest development involving Excalibur Almaz," said Tim Craine, Director of the Isle of Man Government’s Business Development Agency. "Bringing the two Almaz Space Stations to the Island is a further exciting development and evidence of the Island’s growing profile and reputation in the space world."

The Almaz space stations are approximately 11 meters long and four meters in diameter; and are directly related to the module design used on the International Space Station as well as the earlier Russian Salyut and Mir space stations. Other unique features of the Almaz stations include the largest window ever developed for a spacecraft, boasting over two meters of panoramic view of the Earth and stars.