WORLDTECHNASA nears end of space station solar array upgrade with Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 spacewalks
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NASA is two spacewalks away from completing a major, years-long upgrade to the International Space Station that will power the orbiting lab through to its planned decommissioning in 2030. More than five years after the upgrade work first began in earnest, NASA astronaut Anil Menon, 43, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, 44, are scheduled to depart the station’s Quest airlock at 8 a.m.
5 to install the eighth and final array, capping an upgrade campaign that began in 2021 . 5 spacewalks October 28, 2026 Houston Harwood NASA is two spacewalks away from completing a major, years-long upgrade to the International Space Station that will power the orbiting lab through to its planned decommissioning in 2030.
Thursday’s outing, which marks the 285th spacewalk devoted to station assembly, maintenance and upgrades, is planned to last about six hours and 45 minutes. 5, Menon is scheduled to perform a series of complex maneuvers atop to the station’s robotic arm to transport the final IROSA arrays into position for roll out.
Air Force lieutenant colonel and emergency physician, has made his three prior spacewalks since July when he arrived at the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz. A still from a NASA animation depicts Anil Menon transporting the rolled up, folded IROSA solar array to its install position.
The compact, high-efficiency panels are designed to make up for power lost as the station’s original solar wings have degraded over more than two decades in orbit. NASA says the eight IROSA arrays will raise the station’s available power from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts, supporting critical operations through the outpost’s final years, including its “safe and controlled deorbit” after it is retired in 2030.
It will be Menon’s fourth excursion outside the ISS airlock and the first for Kutryk. Kutryk, a Royal Canadian Air Force colonel and test pilot who boarded the ISS.