NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk completed a seven-hour, 11-minute spacewalk on Thursday, installing the seventh of eight new roll-out solar arrays on the International Space Station.
The pair switched their suits to battery power at 7:57 a.m. EDT and finished at 3:08 p.m. EDT, NASA said. They installed and deployed the International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array, known as an IROSA, on the station’s 2A power channel. The outing was the 285th spacewalk in support of station assembly, maintenance and upgrades, and the eighth of the year.
The work closes in on the end of a power upgrade that began in 2021. The first six arrays lifted the station’s available power from about 152 kilowatts to roughly 200 kilowatts, according to NASA coverage of the mission. Once the eighth and final array goes up on a planned November 5 spacewalk, the station should have about 215 kilowatts available.
That power will support life-support systems, scientific research and visiting spacecraft through the station’s planned retirement and controlled deorbit in 2030, NASA said. The final pair of arrays arrived earlier in October aboard a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule. Thursday’s spacewalk also finished ahead of schedule, leaving time for get-ahead tasks to prepare for the November 5 outing.
Source: NASA
