Two Australian satellites were successfully launched through Japanese Space BD on August 29, 2021 at 3:14 a.m. EDT, Space BD announced. This marks the first satellite launch for both the State of Western Australia, and the Australian Research Council Training Centre for CubeSats, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles and their Applications (CUAVA), and the first overseas launch for Space BD.

The test flight of Launch Vehicle 0006 took place on 28th August when the rocket suffered an anomaly. Lifting off from the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Alaska's Kodiak Island at 6:35 p.m. EDT, this was the California Bay Area start-up’s third orbital test flight attempt.

SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft launched at 3:14 a.m. EDT Sunday on a recycled Falcon 9 rocket to go to the ISS, NASA said. Carrying more than 2170 kg of cargo, it lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX’s 23rd Commercial Resupply Services mission is scheduled to dock at the station around 11 a.m. today.

Astroscale’s End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) successfully captured its client spacecraft using its magnetic capture system. This could solve the challenge of capturing and docking during debris removal and on-orbit servicing, Astroscale said.

The next ISS supply flight will bring tissue stem cells from two women and two men of different ages to the International Space Station to further advance the industrial production of human tissue in zero-gravity, Airbus said. The experiment will be carried out on the Space Hub of the University of Zurich (UZH) and Airbus Defence and Space. Initial tests on the ISS 18 months ago were successful.

Blue Origin moved its first stainless steel test tank to Launch Complex 36 in Florida by modular transport to prepare it for testing. The prototype is part of Project Jarvis aiming to develop a fully reusable upper stage for the New Glenn rocket. The tank will undergo a series of tests to determine its strength and capability to hold pressurised propellants, Ars Technica reports.

ispace, inc. unveiled its next generation lunar lander, Series 2, which the company will first use for its third lunar mission. The lander is 2.7 m tall and 4.2 m wide, including its legs. The new series is therefore larger in both size and customer payload capacity than the first-generation model, Series 1.

The Morrison Government has given regulatory approval for tiSPACE to launch their rocket from the Whalers Way launch site. The Taiwanese company will launch its rocket from the newly licensed launch facility in South Australia later this year. tiSPACE will conduct a test flight of its Hapith I rocket from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex, operated by Southern Launch.

Russia postponed its first mission to the Moon in 45 years due to problems during tests of the Luna-25 spacecraft, Roscosmos announced. The mission was originally scheduled for 1st October from the Vostochny Cosmodrome had now been moved to May 2022. The Luna-25 mission aimed at the Moon's south pole will probe ice deposits.

Virgin Orbit is to become publicly traded on Nasdaq through a merger with SPAC NextGen Acquisition Corp. II valuing the company at US $3.2 billion. The SPAC trades on the Nasdaq under ticker “NGCA” until the end of the year. The shares will then convert to “VORB”, as the combined company will keep the Virgin Orbit name. The agreement is to raise US $483 million for the combined company.