NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk spent seven hours and 11 minutes outside the International Space Station on Thursday, installing the seventh of eight new roll-out solar arrays meant to keep the orbiting lab powered for years to come. The excursion, which began at 7:57 a.m. EDT outside the station's airlock, was also notable for a different reason: it marked the 100th spacewalk ever conducted at the ISS.
A Milestone Walk With a Practical Purpose
The spacewalk's significance as a round-number achievement was noted by CBC, which reported that it was the 100th spacewalk at the International Space Station. But the real work centered on hardware. Menon and Kutryk, working together outside the airlock, extended the newest roll-out solar array to its full 60-foot length in roughly 10 minutes, as detailed by CBS News. That single array is expected to add eight kilowatts to the station's overall power capability once fully integrated.
The outing involved installing and deploying a roll-out solar array meant to boost power to the orbiting lab. The seven-hour, 11-minute duration CBS News reported runs slightly longer than the seven-hour spacewalk described in FOX 5 Atlanta's video title.
Part of a Five-Year Power Upgrade
Thursday's spacewalk was the latest step in an upgrade that has been underway since 2021, intended to counter age-related degradation in the station's original solar arrays. The effort has unfolded gradually: six of the new roll-out arrays, known as IROSAs, were already in place by June 2023, according to Spaceflight Now. NASA has said the full set of eight arrays is expected to boost the station's power-generation capability by up to 30 percent once complete, the outlet reported.
Accounts differ on the specific kilowatt figures involved in the upgrade. CBS News reported that the six arrays installed before Thursday's spacewalk had already pushed the station's output from about 152 kilowatts to roughly 200 kilowatts. CBC, meanwhile, reported that the new arrays are expected to raise the station's power capacity from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts once the eighth array goes in. Both figures come from credible reporting on the same upgrade, though the outlets' numbers don't fully align.
One More Spacewalk to Go
Menon and Kutryk aren't finished. CBS News reported that the pair plan to head back outside on Nov. 5 to install the eighth and final roll-out solar array, a spacewalk Spaceflight Now also confirmed was scheduled for that date to complete the upgrade. Once that array is in place, the station's more-than-five-year solar overhaul — which began with the first installations in 2021 — will be done.
Other ISS spacewalks have also involved solar-array upgrade work. In August, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon spent six hours and 27 minutes outside the station prepping for this same solar-array upgrade, according to Space.com. And back in 2023, astronauts Warren “Woody” Hoburg and Steve Bowen wrapped up a solar-array installation spacewalk of their own in five hours and 35 minutes, as reported by AmericaSpace. Spaceflight Now noted that Thursday's outing also marked the 285th spacewalk devoted to station assembly, maintenance and upgrades overall, a tally that spans the station's entire history rather than just the round-number 100th milestone cited for ISS-specific spacewalks.
