ISS Crew Marks 100Th U.S. Spacewalk With Solar Array Upgrade
WHO:
Space.com - NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk deployed a solar array during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS).
CBS News - Menon had completed three spacewalks earlier in the year; the spacewalk was Kutryk’s first extravehicular activity (EVA).
CBS News - Garrett Hehn, a spacewalk flight director, described the plan for moving Menon and the array on the station’s robot arm.
CBS News - Gaurang Patel, a senior manager in NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program, said the final installation would complete the power augmentation upgrades.
WHAT:
Space.com - Menon and Kutryk deployed a new solar array on the 100th U.S. spacewalk by ISS crew members.
CBS News - The astronauts began the first of two spacewalks to install the final pair of roll-out solar arrays, completing an upgrade to the station’s power system.
CBS News - The spacewalk was the eighth of the year and the 285th since ISS assembly began in 1998.
CBS News - The upgrade began in 2021 and involves eight ISS roll-out solar arrays (IROSAs). Six installed arrays increased generating capacity from about 152 kilowatts to about 200 kilowatts; all eight are expected to provide about 215 kilowatts.
CBS News - The additional power is intended to sustain the station through its planned retirement and de-orbiting in 2030, supporting life-support systems, research, and visiting vehicles.
WHERE:
Space.com - The spacewalk took place outside the International Space Station.
CBS News - The astronauts began the spacewalk from the station’s Quest airlock. The seventh IROSA was planned for a support fixture near a left-side inboard solar wing; the final array was planned for a solar wing at the far right end of the power truss.
CBS News - Johnson Space Center flight controllers in Houston remotely operated the station’s robot arm.
WHEN:
CBS News - Menon and Kutryk switched their suits to battery power at 7:57 a.m. EDT, beginning a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk.
CBS News - The final spacewalk is planned for “Nov. 5”; Patel said the astronauts “will head back out on Thursday, November 5.”
CBS News - The final two IROSAs arrived aboard a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule earlier this month.
WHY:
CBS News - The IROSAs are smaller than the original solar panels but more efficient, with state-of-the-art solar cells; the upgrade increases electrical capacity as the station’s original power system ages.
HOW:
CBS News - Each of the final arrays was folded in half and stowed in the Cargo Dragon’s unpressurized trunk. The robot arm removed them from the capsule and stowed them on the left side of the power truss.
CBS News - The arrays weigh about 750 pounds in their folded configuration and are about 10 feet long. Menon was to be anchored to the 58-foot-long robot arm while carrying an array to its mounting point.
CBS News - The astronauts planned to attach the array to a support frame, unfold its halves, bolt them together, connect it to power channel 2A while the station was on Earth’s night side, and unroll it.
CBS News - The arrays unroll using stored energy, without motors or other drive mechanisms; deployment takes about 10 minutes. Hehn compared them to “a snap bracelet.”
CBS News - For the final installation, the astronauts were to pass the array between them “leap frog fashion,” because the robot arm could not reach the far end of the truss.
(UPDATED October 29, 2026 21:07 UTC)
NASA astronauts Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk deployed a new solar array during the 100th U.S. spacewalk by International Space Station crew members, beginning installation of the final pair of arrays in an upgrade to the station’s power system. The eight roll-out arrays are expected to raise generating capacity from about 152 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts, helping support the station’s life-support systems, research, and visiting spacecraft as its original power system ages. Menon and Kutryk will head back out on Thursday, November 5, for the final installation.