NASA is holding discussions with several international companies about creating a consortium to run the International Space Station as a commercial space lab, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a report Tuesday.

“We’re in a position now where there are people out there that can do commercial management of the International Space Station,” Bridenstine told the Washington Post.

“I’ve talked to many large corporations that are interested in getting involved in that through a consortium, if you will,” he added.

In February, the Trump administration proposed ending federal financing of the ISS in 2025 to allow private industry to take over funding the orbiting lab.

The plan to privatize the station was expected to draw widespread criticism because the US has spent nearly $100 billion to build and operate it, the Washington Post has reported.

The station — which travels at about 17,500 mph at an altitude of 248 miles — costs NASA about $3 billion to $4 billion a year and is run by an international partnership that includes the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency.

It has been continuously inhabited by astronauts for the past 18 years.

Some members of Congress said they would fight any plan that ends the station’s life prematurely.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the decision to end its funding was the result of “numskulls” at the Office of Management and Budget, according to the newspaper.

Bridenstine, who was sworn in as NASA administrator in April, declined to identify the companies that have expressed interest in managing the ISS — and said he was aware that companies may find it “hard to close the business case.”

But he added that there are still seven years to plan for the future of the station.

Meanwhile, an official with the Aerospace Industries Association expressed skepticism about the prospects of turning the ISS into a commercial venture.

“It will be very hard to turn ISS into a truly commercial outpost because of the international agreements that the United States is involved in,” Frank Slazer, vice president of space systems for the association, told the Washington Post.

“It’s inherently always going to be an international construct that requires US government involvement and multinational cooperation,” he added.