The US Administration of Donald Trump plans to privatize the International Space Station (ISS) and turn it into a privately-owned enterprise on a commercial basis. This is reported by the Washington Post, which announcd the project.

Washington is preparing to end the financing of the ISS through NASA after 2024. But it does not intend to give up the orbital station and develop a plan that can bring it out of the public sector and send it to private hands.

"The decision to end direct federal support for the ISS by 2025 does not mean that the station will be shut down from orbit until then. It is entirely possible for industry representatives to continue to manage certain elements or functions of the ISS within a future commercial platform. NASA will expand international and commercial partnerships over the next seven years to ensure uninterrupted access to people and their presence in low-Earth orbit, "the document said.

In the draft budget for the 2019th financial year (in the US it begins on October 1), which will be released on Monday, the administration wants $ 150 million to "secure the development and establishment of commercial structures and opportunities" for further privatization of ISS.

These plans, according to the Washington Post, will, above all, face criticism in the US Congress, given that about $ 100 billion have been spent on the construction and operation of the ISS. Now NASA is in the process of studying the possibility to extend the service life of the station by 2028.

Its use at the moment costs NASA between $ 3 billion and $ 4 billion a year.