ISS spacewalk: two astronauts install the seventh new solar array today
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Joshua Kutryk are due to exit the station at 8 a.m. EDT to fit a roll-out solar array – Kutryk's first spacewalk.
Symbolic image · Photo: NASA Johnson Space Center / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
A spacewalk of about six hours and 45 minutes is scheduled at the International Space Station on Thursday. NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency are due to leave the Quest airlock at 8 a.m. EDT (12:00 UTC). According to Spaceflight Now, it is the 285th spacewalk devoted to station assembly, maintenance and upgrades. It is Menon's fourth; Kutryk will become the fifth Canadian to walk in space and the first since 2019.
The pair are to install the seventh of eight new roll-out solar arrays (IROSA). Menon will ride the Canadarm2 robotic arm to the port side of the main truss with the array in hand, while NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney operate the arm from inside. Power cables will be connected while the station is in Earth's shadow, after which the array unrolls on its own in about ten minutes. Each assembly weighs about 750 pounds and generates roughly eight kilowatts.
The new arrays offset the power loss of the original solar wings, installed between 2000 and 2009 and designed to last 15 years. NASA says available power will rise from 160 to about 215 kilowatts. The eighth and final array is to follow on 5 November. Spacewalk flight director Garrett Hehn said beforehand: "Our primary goal is to keep the crew safe." NASA+ coverage begins at 6:30 a.m. EDT.