Reports: Russia to Spend Less on International Space Station

FILE - In this image taken from video from NASA, astronauts, front row from left, Kimiya Yui, of Japan, Oleg Kononenko, of Russia, and Kjell Lindgren, of the United States, wave after they boarded the International Space Station, July 23, 2015.

Russian media say the government plans to cut the amount of money it spends on the International Space Station during the next decade.

The Izvestiya daily reports the latest budget drafts for 2016-25 include about $3.3 billion in spending on the station, or about $330 million a year. That is a 10 percent reduction from a previous draft in April.

Russia's space agency is one of five that works together to operate the station with a rotating crew of astronauts that conduct experiments. Russia plays a key role in transporting the crew to and from the station, since the United States retired its fleet of vehicles to send astronauts into space.

FILE - The Russian Progress-M spacecraft is ready to be lifted on its launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, July 1, 2015.

The United States has funded the largest portion of the station's budget since it launched in 1998 and currently spends about $3 billion a year on the project.