Society News

DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN, 16 May 2012

 Excalibur Almaz Limited (EAL), a commercial aerospace company based on the Isle of Man, British Isles, will participate in and co-sponsor the 3rd European Space Tourism Conference presented by the Royal Aeronautical Society in London 19 June. EAL CEO, Art Dula, will present plans and the business case for a unique series of deep space expeditions to the Moon, Lagrangian points and beyond.

“A profitable market exists for private and government deep space expeditions,” said Mr. Dula. “Examples that can be performed using our flight-proven spacecraft include missions to lunar orbit and to Lagrange Point 2 behind the Moon. EAL intends to provide space infrastructure that can be used by anyone wanting to investigate cislunar space, the Moon and near Earth asteroids.”

EAL’s Reusable Return Vehicle (RRV) spacecraft, which will serve as transport vehicles for the cislunar spacecraft, were flight-tested nine times as part of the Soviet Union’s Almaz high-altitude reconnaissance program in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Each RRV carries a crew of three passengers and is believed to be reusable for 15 missions. The other hardware element of EAL’s lunar mission includes large Salyut-class space stations that will transport passengers to Low Lunar Orbit, L2, L5 and beyond as early as 2015. Salyut-class space stations have proven extremely durable as demonstrated by the two Russian-supplied modules on the International Space Station.

EAL’s twice-flown RRV spacecraft will be on public display at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre at Parliament Square on 20 June between 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. The public will have an opportunity to hear from knowledgeable speakers and view the spacecraft and space-flown Sokol-KV spacesuits.

Excalibur Almaz spokesman, Cosmonaut Valery Tokarev will speak about his spaceflight experiences at 11 a.m., Dr. Jon Clark, EAL Chief Medical and Safety Officer, will speak about spacesuits at 1 p.m. and Art Dula, EAL’s CEO, will discuss Excalibur Almaz’s planned deep space expeditions at 2 p.m.

Cosmonaut Tokarev is a decorated Hero of the Russian Federation having spent more than 199 days in space on three separate space missions. Cosmonaut Tokarev is also an experienced spacewalker and test pilot, having logged more than 3,000 flight hours on 46 types of aircraft.

Dr. Clark is one of America’s leading experts in space medicine and safety with more than 30 years of experience as a medical professional. Dr. Clark is a six-time Space Shuttle crew surgeon who served in top spaceflight medicine and safety roles at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He is a leading proponent for spaceflight safety, a member of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety and is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association.

Mr. Dula has more than 30 years of experience in the commercial aerospace field. His aerospace career began as an attorney specializing in aerospace, export control and intellectual property law. He has served as a NASA consultant on space shuttle contracts as well as a legal advisor to the US Congress on issues pertaining to space. Mr. Dula has served as a Director and General Counsel for several aerospace companies and joint ventures including Eagle Aerospace, Inc., Spacehab, Inc. and Space Services, Inc., which launched the first private US space vehicle.

Media interested in viewing the display, interviewing Cosmonaut Tokarev, Dr. Clark or Mr. Dula should contact Robert Lazaro, Excalibur Almaz Public Relations Director at rlazaro@excaliburalmaz.com.

For more information about the Royal Aeronautical Society visit http://www.aerosociety.com and for more information on Excalibur Almaz visit www.excaliburalmaz.com.

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About Excalibur Almaz Limited:

Excalibur Almaz’s mission is to become the world commercial leader in providing reliable, affordable and routine access to space for exploration, experimentation and tourism for customers around the world. EAL plans to accomplish this by leveraging proven flight-tested products and modernized heritage systems from US, European and Russian space programs to create value as well as reduce costs and development time.

Notes for Editors: About the Royal Aeronautical Society

The Royal Aeronautical Society is the world’s only professional body dedicated to the entire aerospace community. Established in 1866 to further the art, science and engineering of aeronautics, the Society has been at the forefront of developments in aerospace ever since.

The Society promotes the highest professional standards in all aerospace disciplines and is a key provider of specialist information on aspects of aerospace. In addition the Society acts as a central forum for the exchange of ideas and plays a leading role in influencing opinion on aerospace matters. There are currently over 17,000 members of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 100+ countries; members meet regularly via the Society’s network of 60+ Branches and Divisions. More than 175 companies and organisations have become Corporate Partners of the Society while the Society also features 24 groups focusing on specialist areas with the aerospace industry. Every year the Society holds 400+ conferences, lectures and events.