Russia to Cut Funds For International Space Station
Russian media reports that the state authorities are planning to reduce the cost of maintenance of the International Space Station in the next decade.
According to the newspaper Izvestia in the latest draft budget for the 2016-2025 years, the cost of servicing the ISS will be around 3.3 billion dollars (252.1 billion rubles), which is 10 percent less than was suggested in the draft budget drawn up in April last year.
The Russian Space Agency is one of five departments that control the station together with a shift crew of astronauts who make a variety of experiments there. Russia plays a key role in transportation of crew members to the ISS and back since the US had shut down its program of transport spaceships.
The United States has the largest share in the financing of the ISS since the opening of the station in 1998. Currently, the US expenses on this project are about $ 3 billion per year.