US govt considering International Space Station privatisation

WASHINGTON: Could the International Space Station become a commercial venture run by private industry?

That is the wish of the White House, which hopes to end funding for the costly program within a few years, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The US plan, the paper said, involves privatizing the ISS, a low-orbit space station piloted by the US space agency NASA and developed jointly with its Russian counterpart.

The station has allowed international crews -- notably in collaboration with the Canadian, European and Japanese space agencies -- to pursue scientific research in the environment of a low Earth orbit.

"The decision to end direct federal support for the ISS in 2025 does not imply that the platform itself will be deorbited at that time," says an internal NASA document obtained by the Post. "It is possible that industry could continue to operate certain elements or capabilities of the ISS as part of a future commercial platform."

"NASA will expand international and commercial partnerships over the next seven years in order to ensure continued human access to and presence in low Earth orbit," the document says. A budget request to be issued on Monday by the Trump administration will call for YSD 150 million to be spent on the ISS in the 2019 fiscal year, and more in succeeding years. WILLOWICK (US): An Ohio woman has been reunited with her wedding dress 32 years after a dry cleaner mix-up.

Ame Bartlebaugh went looking for her mother's wedding dress at her grandmother's house in Willowick on February 4. The 25-year-old is getting married next year.

Bartlebaugh opened the box expecting a sleeveless dress. But she found a lacy, tiered dress that had been put in the box by a now-defunct dry cleaner in 1985.