This paper reviews the latest scientific research and application activities of the International Space Station (ISS), to provide a reference for the scientific planning of China's space station, with the overall situation of scientific research and application activities of the ISS from October 2020 to October 2021 considered in six categories, including the technology development and demonstration, the physical science, the biology and biotechnology, the educational and cultural activities, the human research, and the earth and space science, focusing on the new experiments and achievements to reflect the scientific research and application progress during this period. It is shown that, the large-scale research and application activities are continued on the ISS in 2021, with the U.S., Japanese, European and Canadian space agencies supporting 313 experiments in six categories, including more than 40 percent of new experiments conducted on the ISS for the first time. Meanwhile, the ISS is at the peak of scientific research and application output, and all six categories continue to produce new highlight scientific results, such as the discovery that the biomining is even more effective in the microgravity conditions and the observation of the Earth's blue jets, which has attracted a wide attention from the global science community.

International Space Station  /  expedition  /  microgravity