What a dicotomy on the Isle of Man where ancient ruins are visible is the world’s first International Institute of Space Commerce (IISC), opening on Saturday October 4th at the International Business School.

The IISC is a joint project between the International Space University (ISU) based in Strasbourg, France and the Isle of Man Government. The ISU decided that they wished to become more global and wanted to establish a number of associated International Institutes around the world. Three international institutes are planned – an International Institute of Space Commerce, an International Institute of Space Law and an International Institute of Space Tourism. The first institute to “go live” is the Isle of Man Institute of Space Commerce. The International Institute of Space Commerce has been located on the Isle of Man at the International Business School on the outskirts of Douglas, the Island’s capital.

The reasons for the ISU choosing the Isle of Man include:

• The Island’s political commitment to develop space commerce
• The Island’s space friendly legislation
• The commercial benefits to space companies including low taxes
• Access to orbital filing slots
• The existing clustering of space companies including SES, Inmarsat, Telesat, ManSat and Sea Launch

Present at the opening will be representatives of the international space community, many of whom are coming to the Island for the opening, following attendance at the International Astronomical Congress in Glasgow, Scotland earlier in the week. The Island does have two particular guests who will be at the opening ceremony, namely George Abbey and Dr. Soyeon Yi.

Mr. George Abbey is the Senior Fellow for Space Studies from the Baker Institute at Rice University in Texas. Formerly Mr. Abbey was the Director of the NASA Johnson Space Centers Flight Crew Operations Directorate (FCOD), presiding from the first group of space shuttle astronauts in 1978 through 1988 and served on the National Space Council under Vice President Dan Quayle in the Administration of George Bush Senior. He can be credited with being the driving force behind the development of the International Space Station (ISS) during a period of turbulence following the financial crises affecting the Russian space agencies. George Abbey was also Director during both the Skylab space station project in 1973 and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Prior to his NASA career, George was a pilot and an officer in the U.S. Air Force, accumulating over 4,000 hours of flying time. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Dr. Soyeon Yi came to international prominence on April 8th this year, when she became the first citizen of South Korea, and only the second woman from the whole of Asia, to go into space. Flying under a commercial agreement between the South Korean Government and the Russian Federal Space Agency, Dr Yi was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with two Russian cosmonauts on a Soyuz rocket, before spending 9 days on the International Space Station. While there, she conducted experiments provided by various Korean scientific and educational establishments, before returning to earth and landing in back Kazakhstan on 21st April.

Isle of Man Minister for Space Alex Downie said, "Welcoming the IISC to the Isle of Man is part of our overall strategy to encourage space innovation. We have attracted some of the space industry's most successful companies along with several niche players to our island over the past few years. Here, they find a perfect combination of a pro-space government, an established professional infrastructure, access to orbital slots and zero per cent tax on space and satellite business."