Trump Wants ISS Off the Government’s Dime

The International Space Station's days might be numbered, as President Donald Trump has hinted at a shift in funding that would prioritize manned missions to the moon.

A draft budget request obtained and reviewed by the Verge indicated the president plans to end funding for the ISS by 2025 if the budget is passed as currently written. NASA's partners would have to decide if they're going to continue working on the project if the United States ends funding, or if the ISS will be discontinued altogether, the report added.

NASA told the Verge it cannot comment on budget requests until they're released.

"NASA and the International Space Station partnership is committed to full scientific and technical research on the orbiting laboratory, as it is the foundation on which we will extend human presence deeper into space," a NASA spokesperson told the Verge.

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Mashable explained that the decision is a result of Trump's goal to resume manned trips to the moon. He recently revived the National Space Council and put Vice President Mike Pence in charge with hopes of lunar missions in the near future. But the funding to perform those missions was limited, so he has proposed moving the $3 to $4 billion in annual funding for the ISS to the NSC's goal of going back to the moon.

"If the leak proves to be true, it could have some interesting ramifications for commercial human spaceflight," space industry analyst Bill Ostrove told Mashable. "Commercial companies should be able to support a self-sufficient industry at that time."

Commercial space industry leaders want NASA to extend funding for the ISS through 2028, according to the Verge. If funding is cut at the end of 2024, there might not be enough time for commercial companies to ready their own module, the report added.

The leaked budget suggests Trump would like to start sending moon landers on missions in the early 2020s, but NASA likely wouldn't be prepared for such a mission in a few years' time, Mashable also reported. This could lead private companies to partner with the government on lunar missions, or it could drive them to compete with NASA and become self-sufficient, the report added.

The first piece of the ISS was launched into orbit in 1998, and the program has received more than $87 billion in funding from the federal government, according to the Verge.