Relativity Space, an aerospace startup that carried out the first test flight of a 3D-printed rocket, announced Wednesday that it will focus on a bigger rocket to compete for commercial launches with SpaceX and other companies.

The Long Beach, California-based company launched the world's first 3D-printed rocket, Terran 1, on March 22 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Although it failed to reach orbit, the test flight proved that the rocket—whose mass is 85 percent 3D-printed—could withstand the rigors of liftoff and space flight.

Relativity Space said it was shifting its focus from Terran 1 to a larger, reusable 3D-printed rocket known as Terran R, with the first commercial launches scheduled for 2026 from Florida.

"Relativity is accelerating the company's focus on Terran R to meet significant and growing market demand," the company said in a statement.

"Terran R also represents a large leap towards Relativity's mission to build humanity's multiplanetary future, eventually offering customers a point-to-point space freighter capable of missions from the Earth to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Russia said Wednesday it planned to use the International Space Station until 2028, an apparent reversal of an earlier announcement to quit the orbiting laboratory after 2024.

In July last year, Moscow said it was leaving the International Space Station "after 2024" as ties unraveled between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, said Moscow's participation in the international space project had been extended.

"By the decision of the government, the operation of the International Space Station has been extended until 2028," Borisov told President Vladimir Putin during a televised meeting, referring to the Russian segment.

He said the "time has come" to discuss the creation of a Russian orbital station.

"Time is running fast and we cannot take a break from manned spaceflight under any circumstances," Borisov told the Kremlin chief.

The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased US-Russia cooperation following the Cold War "Space Race."

ISS partners—the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan—are for the moment only committed to operate the orbiting laboratory until 2024, though US officials have stated they want to continue until 2030.

Headlines proclaiming the rise of a new "space race" between the U.S. and China have become common in news coverage following many of the exciting launches in recent years. Experts have pointed to China's rapid advancements in space as evidence of an emerging landscape where China is directly competing with the U.S. for supremacy.

This idea of a space race between China and the U.S. sounds convincing given the broader narrative of China's rise, but how accurate is it? As a professor who studies space and international relations, my research aims to quantify the power and capabilities of different nations in space. When I look at various capacities, the data paints a much more complex picture than a tight space race between the U.S.