The dream of setting forth among the stars has inspired humanity to accomplish feats once limited to imagination. Last week, NASA's continuing mission of science and exploration once again helped make the impossible possible: Ted Cruz passed a bill.

Teaming up with a bipartisan group of senators, Cruz took a break from the campaign trail last Wednesday to pass the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, which he sponsored. The bill - S. 1297 - will continue the regulatory moratorium on commercial space activity, granting the Department of Transportation until 2020 to devise proper regulations for a burgeoning commercial space industry.

It makes other tweaks to commercial launch law, but the most important aspect of Cruz's bill is that it will extend the lifetime of the International Space Station from 2020 to 2024.

The ISS currently serves as humanity's only permanent outpost beyond the Earth's surface. Scientists from around the globe rely on the ISS to host unique experiments that cannot be performed anywhere else. The orbiting station is also invaluable for learning about how life in a microgravity setting affects the mind and body. These experiences will help ensure that NASA astronauts are prepared for the long voyage to Mars or other destinations in our solar system. The Apollo missions were a sprint, but the future of space exploration will be a marathon, and that takes some extra training.

Here in Houston, the Johnson Space Center still serves as mission control, a lifeline for the brave men and women aboard the ISS who speed around our planet at 17,000 mph. If we lose funding for the ISS, then Houston risks losing not only the pride that comes from being mission control but also thousands of jobs and the billion dollars that the center injects into the Houston economy.

Until we're ready to take the next step beyond low-earth orbit, the ISS must remain a key facet in NASA's mission. However, the House bill that corresponds with Cruz's does not include an extension of the ISS timeline.

For the sake of scientific exploration, national spirit and the Houston economy, the Texas delegation should pull together to ensure that the International Space Station doesn't go the way of Mir - the doomed Russian space station - come 2020.

Today humanity's furthest footstep is aboard the ISS. It falls upon Congress to ensure that it doesn't end up at the bottom of the ocean, dreams turned to junk for want of proper funding.