process of being painted on the fairing and on the Proton launch vehicle itself. A smaller mission patch was flown inside, attached to the wall with Velcro. On 14 July, Roscosmos revealed the website for Nauka and began the countdown for launch. A spacewalk was to be performed on 8 September by Novitsky and Dubrov to remove thermal shrouds for the ERA and the hardware launched on Rassvet including Naukas docking ball and the transfer compartment. This would free up ports for the Science airlock and the RTOd radiator and will allow the ERA to retrieve its boom which was stowed on the Rassvet module. When Nauka arrived, the ERA's first task after the Russian spacewalk was to grapple the airlock and the radiator and install them, with Novitsky and Dubrov bolting them down and routing cables and piping in preparation for their deployment at the end of the spacewalk. On the same day, the Proton-M rocket received Nauka at Site 92. Rollout was slated for 17 July. In the early morning hours of 17 July 2021, Nauka was loaded onto a rail transporter erector and was rolled out to Pad 39 at Site 200. Over the next few days Nauka was checked out before its launch on 21 July at 14:58 UTC. On 19 July, a launch dress rehearsal was conducted to test the systems. With 48 hours remaining in the launch window everything remained go for an on-time liftoff. On the station, Pirs was loaded with garbage and the hatch was closed and locked for the last time in preparation for undocking. On 20 July, Nauka had its final launch dress rehearsal, During which it was powered on and the Proton flight computer was activated to test the ground launch sequencer. While this was going on, technicians from Roscosmos and ILS connected the umbilical cables and fueling and vent lines to the rocket. After the Launch Readiness Review (LRR) in which Rogozin sat down with senior staff to conduct the go/no-go poll, the Proton was fueled and the countdown proceeded to launch. Nauka successfully lifted off from the pad on 21 July at 14:58:25 UTC. Transit phase and docking Several problems occurred after the launch, including loss of telemetry and issues with the main propulsion system. On 22 July 2021, the Nauka Multipurpose Module Flight Control Group specialists at Mission Control Moscow conducted two correction maneuvers. The first