The Excalibur Almaz space capsule (Source: Excalibur Almaz).

Excalibur Almaz, a company based in the Isle of Man, has been awarded an unfunded Space Act Agreement for a Commercial Crew Development (CCDev)-2 proposal on October 7, 2011. “We’re providing limited technical support consistent with the purpose of the CCDev-2 activity, which is to advance orbital commercial transportation concepts enabling significant progress on maturing the design and development of the system,” said NASA spokesman Michael Braukus in this regards. The precise details of the proposal have not been disclosed yet.

Excalibur Almaz is resuming decommissioned Soviet-era technology – namely the Almaz military space station program – acquired from Russia. The TKS spacecraft that the company is planning to use has been extensively  flight-tested between 1973 and 1983, but never with a crew onboard. According toPhil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA headquarters, Excalibur Almaz, “have a credible concept.”

In the video, below, a promotional video of the company.

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Andrea Gini

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Andrea Gini is a content strategy consultant specialized in companies of the space sector. He is founder of Space Safety Magazine, where he held the position of Editor-in-Chief until March 2015. Between 2011 and 2013 he worked in the European Space Agency in the Independent Safety Office, which overviews the utilization of the International Space Station. He previously worked as Software Developer, IT Consultant, and trainer of Java-related technologies. Andrea holds a BSc and an MSc in computer science from the University of Milano, a Master in Communication of Science from the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste and a MSc in Space Studies from the International Space University.

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