TWO space stations from Russia were delivered to the Island yesterday.

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

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.

Both stations will be initially stored before research, testing and possibly completion and launch to orbit.

They 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."