On August 20, 2021 Chinese cosmonauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming performed the spacewalk to install a coolant pump and to lift a panoramic camera on the exterior of the complex. The EVA lasted 5 hours and 55 minutes. It was the 3^rd spacewalk for Liu Boming and the 1^st spacewalk for Nie Haisheng. The spacewalk was the third extravehicular activity in the history of China’s space program.

On August 12, 2021, the American "Cygnus” CRS-16 (NG-16, the S. S. Ellison Onizuka) private unmanned supply spacecraft was docked to the International Space Station (ISS). The Cygnus spacecraft was grappled by a robotic arm at 10:07 UTC. The cargo spacecraft was docked to the station’s "Unity” module at 13:42 UTC. The spacecraft delivered about 3700 kilograms of supplies to the Space Station. It was the 16^th docking of a "Cygnus” spacecraft with the ISS. This is the 5^th flight of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.

On August 10, 2021 at 22:01 UTC the "Cygnus” privately owned U.S. unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, USA. The spacecraft was orbited by the “Antares-230” rocket-carrier. The "Cygnus” NG-16 (the S. S. Ellison Onizuka), previously known as CRS OA-16, unmanned supply spacecraft, built by U.S. space firm Orbital Sciences Corp., was orbited on its cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. The "Cygnus” NG-16 is the 16^th successful flight of the Orbital ATK uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus.

On July 29, 2021 at 13:29 UTC the Russian “Nauka” module, also known as Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), was docked to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was docked to the nadir docking port of the Russian “Zvezda” (“Star”) service module. Russian “Nauka”, or “science,” research module has a mass of about 20.2 tons and extends about 13 meters long. It’s the first large pressurized element to be permanently added to the space station since 2011, and will become one of the biggest modules at the complex.

On July 26, 2021, the link of the “Progress MS-16” unmanned supply spacecraft and the Russian “Pirs” module was deorbited. Non-burnt fragments of the spacecraft drowned in the remote area of the Pacific at 14:42 UTC.

On July 26, 2021 at 10:55 UTC the link of the “Progress MS-16” unmanned supply spacecraft and the Russian “Pirs” module was undocked from the International Space Station. Wrapping up nearly 20 years of service as a docking port and airlock, the Russian “Pirs” module departed the International Space Station under tow from the “Progress MS-16” supply spacecraft and headed for a destructive re-entry in Earth’s atmosphere, clearing the way for arrival of the Russian “Nauka” module. The “Pirs”(meaning "pier") docking module was launched on 14 September 2001, and was located on the Zvezda module of the station. It provided the ISS with one docking port for Soyuz and Progress spacecra ... Read more »

On July 21, 2021 at 14:58 UTC the “Nauka” module, also known as Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was orbited by the “Proton-M” rocket-carrier. The International Space Station is set to receive its biggest expansion in more than a decade after the launch of a Russian research lab and a European robotic arm. Russian “Nauka”, or “science,” research module has a mass of about 20.2 tons and extends about 13 meters long. It’s the first large pressurized element to be permanently added to the space station since 2011, and will become one of the biggest modules at the complex.

On July 21, 2021 the Crew Dragon “Endeavour” (Crew-2 mission) spacecraft was redocked from the forward docking port on the “Harmony” module to the top-facing (upward-facing docking adapter), or zenith, docking port on the “Harmony” module of the International Space Station. During the redocking (10:48 – 11:35 UTC) the crew consisted of American astronauts Robert Kimbrough and Katherine Megan McArthur, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. The crew relocated the Crew Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft to clear the way for arrival of a Boeing Starliner crew ferry ship on an unpiloted test flight later in July.

On July 10, 2021 at 03:29 UTC the "Dragon” capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico south of Tallahassee, Florida, USA. It was the "SpaceX CRS-22” mission. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. It was the 2^nd flight of the new generation of Dragon cargo capsules also known SpaceX Dragon 2 or Cargo Dragon 2. It was the 22^nd flight of Cargo Dragon to the ISS with docking, including a demonstration flight in 2012.

On July 8, 2021 at 14:45 UTC, the Dragon CRS-22 spacecraft was undocked from the International Space Station. It’s the 2^nd flight of the new generation of Dragon cargo capsules also known SpaceX Dragon 2 or Cargo Dragon 2. It was the 22^nd flight of Cargo Dragon to the ISS with docking, including a demonstration flight in 2012.