NASA Will Open International Space Station To The Public In 2020

NASA announced on Friday that they plan to open the International Space Station (ISS) in 2020 to the public, private astronauts, private companies and film crews.

Parts of the ISS will be opened for space tourism and filming in space, and private companies now have the opportunity to use the parts of the space station for producing, marketing and testing their products, Mirror UK reported. Private astronauts can also use the ISS for “missions of up to 30 days,” NASA said in their announcement in New York on Friday.

“Commercial companies will play an important role both here…and around the moon, working with NASA to test technologies, train astronauts and develop a sustainable human presence,” said Christina Hoch, a current resident of the ISS, in a video on Twitter.

A private company will be responsible for making sure that the private astronauts pass medical and training requirements, BBC reported. The trips for private astronauts will potentially cost over $50 million a night, Mirror UK said. NASA would get $35,000 of that cost per night.

Up until now, NASA had not allowed ISS to be used for commercial purposes. This decision is part of a push for making the ISS completely private, sparked in part by President Donald Trump’s budget published last year that would result in a complete defunding of ISS by 2025, BBC reported.