The United States is extending the International Space Station's operations for an additional four years until at least 2024.
U.S. President Barack Obama's announced on Wednesday that it approved the extension, and encouraged other countries to take similar action.
See also: 7 Oddball Things Found on the Space Station
"The ISS is the most complex and challenging engineering endeavor in history," according to a White House statement written by John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Charles Bolden, a NASA administrator. "The key to its success has been the combination of NASA ingenuity and international cooperation."
The White House lists a number of goals that extending the ISS will help achieve, such as embarking on a human mission to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s. "A related critical function of ISS is testing the technologies and spacecraft systems necessary for humans to safely and productively operate in deep space," Holdren and Bolden wrote.
NASA has also already worked out contracts with two private U.S. companies, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., to resupply the station with cargo. The U.S. partners with 14 other nations on the ISS, and a total of 68 nations use the station for some function, according to the statement.
The White House made the announcement ahead of a space-explorations summit scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Washington, D.C., which will include more than 30 heads of space agencies from around the world. The decision to extend involvement doesn't require any further action at this time because the station is already funded through 2020.
It remains unclear whether other partner nations will want to continue their involvement in the ISS, and it could be years before they decide, according to The Washington Post. William H. Gerstenmaier, head of NASA’s human-spaceflight program, told the newspaper that NASA will continue its involvement alone, if necessary.
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Image: NASA
BONUS: 20 Epic Space Photos From Astronaut Chris Hadfield
"Antipodes Islands, looking like an island flag."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"Istanbul, Turkey at night, historic vital crossroads, clear as can be."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"Morning in NYC. Downtown Manhattan casts quite a shadow."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"I, for one, appreciate a healthy moustache, like this one inching along over New Zealand."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"Fogo, Cape Verde - a volcano so big it peaks above the Atlantic. Last active 18 years ago."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"A island off the Pacific coast of Mexico spins clouds into swirls of lace."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"While looking for the approaching Soyuz, I caught a glimpse of another orbiting body in the distance."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"An angry thunderstorm stands out against infinity."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"A gyre frozen into the ice, Newfoundland, Canada."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"Some of the things we build for ourselves are puzzlingly visible from space. Such as the islands of Dubai."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"Homs, Syria. Currently enveloped in fighting - an uncertain future layered upon a storied past."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"The Earth's fault lines are especially visible from orbit, like this one in South Africa."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"Soyuz departing - Oleg, Kev & Evgeni passing underneath Space Station on their way home after 5 months."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
Commander Hadfield had only one comment for this photo: "!"
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"Kolkata (Calcutta), India. 14 million of us living closely together on the Hooghly River in a huge developed wetland."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"Like a Praying Mantis, Canadarm2 poised to reach out and grab Dragon."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"Pyongyang, North Korea. A shrouded city of much global concern. In stark contrast with the South, not too far away."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"Air and pepper oil suspended in a water blob. I blew on it to make it wiggle."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"A rare space sight. Most borders are invisible from orbit. This one between Egypt and Israel isn't."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield
"Undoubtedly one of the coolest space sights on Earth, the Richat Structure of Mauritania."
Image courtesy of Chris Hadfield