TWO space stations from Russia were delivered to the Isle of Man in January.

Island based company Excalibur Almaz Limited (EA), an international commercial space exploration company, took delivery of the partially completed space stations on Wednesday, January 5.

The space stations, which are approximately 11 meters long and four meters in diameter, were taken on articulated lorries from the Sea Terminal to Jurby Industrial Estate. Due to their size they were flanked by a police convoy.

It was the company's plan to conduct research and testing on the stations before possibly launching them to orbit.

The space stations are directly related to the module design used on the International Space Station but one of the unique features of the Almaz stations is that they have the largest window ever developed for a spacecraft. It boasts over two meters of panoramic view of the Earth and stars.

Tim Craine, director of the Isle of Man Government's Business Development Agency, said: "We're very excited at this latest development involving Excalibur Almaz. 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."

In addition to space tourism the updated space stations could provide platforms for microgravity scientific experimentation to serve governments and academic institutions.

Art Dula the founder and chief executive of Excalibur Almaz 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."

Update: In June Excalibur Almaz held an open day to showcase the stations to the public. For more on this click here.  

This story is part of isleofman.com's Review of the Year 2011