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Excalibur Almaz is a rather well funded outfit redoing the Russian TKS spacecraft and Almaz (Salut) space stations for private orbital flights. Re-done capsule images below. Also interesting is that they have a partnership with Ad Astra Aerospace: VASIMR. It could be launched on an Atlas V 401 or SpaceX Falcon 9.
Check out their advisory board
Excalibur Almaz is based in Douglas, Isle of Man, with offices in Houston and Moscow. The company follows a lightweight and efficient business model, by owning its spacecraft but contracting expert services, including refurbishment, launch, control, and recovery.
Company founders include: CEO and space law expert Art Dula, CFO and space commercialization veteran Buckner Hightower, and Sales & Marketing Vice President Chris Stott. Stott is also CEO of ManSat and on the board of the International Space University. The company's COO is U.S. Air Force General (ret.) Dirk Jameson, who once commanded the Air Force's Vandenberg missile launching base. Chief of spacecraft operations is Leroy Chiao, formerly a NASA astronaut and Commander of the International Space Station.
Advisory Board members include: former Johnson Space Center Director, George Abbey; former Kennedy Space Center Director and former President of Lockheed Martin Space Operations, Jay Honeycutt; former space shuttle astronaut and VASIMR plasma rocket engine inventor, Franklin Chang-Diaz; former European Space Agency astronaut Jean-Loup Chrétien, and former Russian cosmonauts, Vladimir Titov and Yuri Glaskov
Company founders include: CEO and space law expert Art Dula, CFO and space commercialization veteran Buckner Hightower, and Sales & Marketing Vice President Chris Stott. Stott is also CEO of ManSat and on the board of the International Space University. The company's COO is U.S. Air Force General (ret.) Dirk Jameson, who once commanded the Air Force's Vandenberg missile launching base. Chief of spacecraft operations is Leroy Chiao, formerly a NASA astronaut and Commander of the International Space Station.
Advisory Board members include: former Johnson Space Center Director, George Abbey; former Kennedy Space Center Director and former President of Lockheed Martin Space Operations, Jay Honeycutt; former space shuttle astronaut and VASIMR plasma rocket engine inventor, Franklin Chang-Diaz; former European Space Agency astronaut Jean-Loup Chrétien, and former Russian cosmonauts, Vladimir Titov and Yuri Glaskov
Almaz
The original Almaz spacecraft was designed to carry a crew of three or over 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of cargo or scientific experiments. Currently, these original Almaz spacecraft are the only flight-tested private spacecraft designed to be re-used for multiple flights to and from space. Reusability will greatly reduce logistical, overhead and program costs.
Reusable re-entry vehicles:
The original Almaz spacecraft was designed to carry a crew of three or over 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of cargo or scientific experiments. Currently, these original Almaz spacecraft are the only flight-tested private spacecraft designed to be re-used for multiple flights to and from space. Reusability will greatly reduce logistical, overhead and program costs.
Reusable re-entry vehicles:
- Have features similar to the US Apollo and Russian Soyuz spacecraft
- Have undergone nine unmanned test flights in their original design
- Are designed for a crew of three, plus cargo
- Can be configured to carry cargo alone
- Are fitted with a tested Launch Escape System (LES)
- Have both automatic and manual flight modes
- Use three parachutes for redundancy
- Use soft landing rockets to cushion touchdown
- Capable of ground or water landing
- Feature three hatches for ease of access
- Have reusable heat shields
