Instead of splashing into the Pacific Ocean in 2020 as planned, the International Space Station will continue circling Earth for at least an additional four years, NASA announced on Wednesday.

William H. Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said the extra time would lead more scientists to propose experiments, spur a young commercial space industry and allow the space agency to solve health and technical challenges before sending its astronauts on more distant missions.

If the station were destined for destruction just six years from now, scientists and companies would be more reluctant to invest their time and money, Mr. Gerstenmaier said. “Potentially, that creates a new economy in space,” he said.

Two companies, SpaceX and the Orbital Sciences Corporation, fly cargo to the space station, and NASA is looking to hire commercial “space taxis” to take astronauts beginning in 2017. Mr. Gerstenmaier said he thought that more companies would now also look at how they could take advantage of the weightlessness of space for profit.