NASA and partner agencies celebrated 15 years of uninterrupted human presence on the International Space Station on Monday.

On Nov. 2, 2000, a Russian Soyuz rocket docked at ISS with a crew of astronauts that included William Shepherd and Roscosmos cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, CNN reports. The first expedition lasted for 136 days and 17 hours while the orbiting lab circled 250 miles above Earth at five miles per second.

"The space station really is a bridge. It's a test bed for the technologies that we need to develop and understand in order to have a successful trip to Mars," said American astronaut Kjell Lindgren, a flight engineer for Expedition 45, according to AP.

With the celebration, Charles Bolden, NASA administrator, once again opened the conversation to consider ISS for a Nobel Peace Prize. "I believe the station should be considered the blueprint for peaceful global cooperation. For more than a decade and a half, it has taught us about what's possible when tens of thousands of people across 15 countries collaborate to advance shared goals," said Bolden, according to USA Today.

Expedition 45 Commander Scott Kelly appreciates how - even after 15 years - the ISS has had remarkably few technical problems. He also acknowledges the biggest benefit of ISS, which is the access it gives for furthering long-term exploration goals deeper into space.

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