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Recently, the ISS has been very busy, completing four spacewalks in only 26 days, putting it on track to be one of the busiest times aboard the ISS since construction. The ISS requires maintenance, to maintain solar panels, life support systems, vacuum seals, and more. Spacewalks are used to repair parts of the station that cannot be automatically maintained or cleared from the inside. Spacewalks typically last from 4-7 hours and use fully protective suits, of which NASA provides the EMU (Extravehicular Mobility Suit) and the suit from Russia, Orlan. NASA's EMU also has an option attachment of the SAFER emergency jetpack, using pressurized gaseous nitrogen for propulsion. NASA continues to be the only space agency in the world to operate a personal propulsion system.
In addition, Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL spacecraft successfully boosted the ISS into a standard orbit. The ISS slowly loses altitude due to miniscule amounts of atmospheric drag still acting on the space station. Even though the ISS is well into "space" the thermosphere, one of the highest layers of the atmosphere, is where the ISS resides. This means that even with a near vacuum, the ISS continues to experience drag and could enter the thicker parts of the atmosphere, leading to a runaway where it would experience full atmospheric re-entry, jeopardizing the lives of the crew. Northrop's Cygnus usually delivers cargo to the ISS, but it can also be used for orbital reboosting missions.
A Russian Progress spacecraft, which is a cargo variant of the standard Soyuz, arrived at the ISS for its 96th mission. Progress is a Soyuz spacecraft, but instead of having a reentry module, which protects crew from over 2,500 °F temperatures during descent. Instead, it is replaced by more cargo space, allowing Progress to carry over 5000lbs of cargo to the ISS, which includes water, food, air, scientific experiments, and more cargo.
In addition, Crew 13 is preparing for a launch in early October, sending three new astronauts to the International Space Station, to continue NASA and international science goals and continue to maintain the orbital laboratory. Crew 13, which is designated as it is the 13th crewed flight of the Crew Dragon capsule, will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket as usual. SpaceX has prepared the booster for launch and the crew has arrived at Kennedy Space Center to complete pre-flight examinations and checks.
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