NASA is Planning to Hand Over the Key of ISS to a Private Company

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is planning to hand over the International Space Station or ISS to a private company. The orbiting laboratory has a very important role in the field of science and every decision that NASA drops regarding the station is equally important for the people.

NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration System Development, Bill Hill, states that on the next decade "mid-2020s" he is hoping to hand over the keys of the ISS to a commercial owner. This is clearly a bold move for NASA since the ISS has long been publicly open and owned.

One of NASA's long-term plans is to reach Mars and the decrease of governmental commitments makes it impossible to reach the Red Planet. Hence, they believe that the only way to make this project attainable is to work with private space industry companies. As per the government's side, ISS is only funded to remain its orbit up to 2024. Originally, the ISS was expected to stop its mission this 2016, according to Digital Trends. However, President Barack Obama has extended the deorbiting date. This extra time was given for NASA to prepare its goal to set foot on the Red Planet and how the transition would take over when the time for the keys to be handed over arrives.

In a report made by Tech Times, Bill Hill said, "NASA's trying to develop economic development in low-earth orbit. Ultimately, our desire is to hand the space station over to either a commercial entity or some other commercial capability so that research can continue in low-Earth orbit."

It's not yet stated as to which private company the key to ISS will be given to. However, its primary contractor, Boeing, is looking to the possibility to operate the space station twice the length it was originally designed for.