ALTHOUGH the odds are against the Isle of Man becoming the next nation to send a man to the moon, the story is gaining international recognition and providing a unique sales angle for the Island.

For some months space industry commentators have ranked the Isle of Man as the nation “5th most likely” to be the first to get a man back on the surface of the moon.

Some are saying that the odds are more like 50 to 1, but it hasn’t prevented the Isle of Man from gaining major headlines in the world’s media.

In recent days, both the Daily Mail and the Financial Times - two of the most respected newspapers in Britain - have carried the story about the Isle of Man’s ranking in the space race. And it’s not doing the Island any harm, says Economic Development Minister Allan Bell.

“When I meet representatives of countries from around the world I tell them we have financial services and manufacturing and they say ‘OK that’s nice but so have other jurisdictions.’

“But if I then say the bookies have us 5th most likely to get back to the moon they get really interested. It is a unique selling point when we are trying to attract investment and diversify the economy.”

The Isle of Man currently relies very heavily on the successful financial services industry which provides 38 per cent of GDP which stands at £3.1billion.

Mr Bell’s words were covered in both the Financial Times and The Daily Mail, linked to the statistic that after the U.S., Russia, China and India, the Isle of Man is seen as the next most likely country to go back to the moon for the first time since 1972.

The Isle of Man has been involved in the space industry for a number of years. Between 2006 and 2010 the space industry brought in £33 million for the Isle of Man economy – and also provided work for bankers and lawyers.

Only recently a US-Russian company, Excalibur Almaz, bought two former Soviet space stations and are hoping to run tourist trips to space. The company is hoping to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in funds before sending their first tourist flights into space in 2013.

The units were built for a secret reconnaissance programme but never used. The company, which has its headquarters on the Isle of Man, wants to refurbish the units and send them into orbit from Russia.

Odyssey Moon, another company based on the island, is attempting to send a vehicle to the moon and send back pictures to win a £30million prize. Major satellite operators SES, Inmarsat, Avanti and Telesat are all based on the island.