Monday, 16 July 2012

Where No Manx Has Gone Before

It's always a pleasure to read about British efforts to reach space, so I rather enjoyed this little BBC story on the work of Excalibur Almaz, a space tourism company based on the Isle of Man.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18853105

For those overseas folk unaware of the Isle of Man, it's a British Crown Dependency - i.e. British, but not technically part of the UK - lying in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. It's not somewhere that immediately springs to mind when asked about space travel.

I love the approach they're taking. With some companies, like Virgin Galactic, spending vast amounts on constructing new spacecraft, Excalibur have taken the more cost-effective step of refitting existing, defunct spaceships. Shame the £100m is a touch beyond my holiday budget.

I also love the little boy at the end of the video. Cool kid. I look forward to seeing him make first contact with intelligent alien life in the future.

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