The station will be open for commercial opportunities like allowing companies and tourists to use its facilities. The agency is also asking the private space industry to suggest ideas for habitats and modules it can attach to the space station semi-permanently. Private firms will be allowed to use the ISS to film commercials, or produce, market and test their products. (The Verge)

Talking point: This is a significant shift for NASA, which has long been against commercializing the ISS. In the past, companies wishing to send products to the ISS had to prove they were either educational or demonstrated some kind of technology. But NASA is now looking to transfer control of the ISS and its region of space to the private sector, as it costs the agency between US$3 billion to US$4 billion a year to operate it. Doing so could free up some funds to pursue bigger projects, like its goal of building a space station around the Moon and sending humans to its surface. The move was also spurred by U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to end direct ISS funding by 2025, giving private companies control of its operations; that timeline is no longer being followed due to blowback from Democrat lawmakers. But the agency is still looking to eventually cede control of the expensive station; this move is a step toward that goal.