Two astronauts are scheduled to carry out a spacewalk on Thursday, Nov. 5, to fit the last of the International Space Station's new roll-out solar arrays, according to Space. NASA's Anil Menon and the Canadian Space Agency's Joshua Kutryk are set to begin the roughly seven-hour excursion at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT).
Space reports that NASA will stream the spacewalk, with coverage starting at 7 a.m. EST (1200 GMT). The outlet notes a discrepancy in its own listing, giving the start time as 7 a.m. EDT.
Why it matters
The installation closes out a power upgrade that has been under way since June 2021. NASA officials said in a blog post on Tuesday, Nov. 3, that the work will raise the station's generating capacity from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts — an increase of roughly 30%, as Space reports.
The new units, known as International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSA), are being added to supplement the station's original solar wings, which have been in orbit for years and degrade over time. The added capacity supports the laboratory's research work and its everyday operations, and it comes as the station continues to host rotating international crews.
A second outing in a week for the same pair
Thursday's extravehicular activity is the second in seven days for Menon and Kutryk. The two installed the seventh iROSA during a spacewalk on Oct. 29. According to Space, that outing was the 100th U.S. spacewalk conducted from the station and the first spacewalk by a Canadian astronaut since 2019.
The pair are not working alone aboard the orbiting laboratory. Five other crew members are currently on the station: NASA's Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins, along with cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Anna Kikina and Sergey Teteryatnikov. Space reports that Delaney, Kutryk, Teteryatnikov and Watkins arrived on Oct. 1 aboard SpaceX's Crew-13 mission, while Dubrov, Kikina and Menon reached the station in mid-July on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
What to watch
The main milestone to watch is confirmation that the eighth and final iROSA is secured and functioning, which would mark the end of the multi-year augmentation program. Viewers can follow the spacewalk through NASA's live coverage, carried by Space, from the scheduled start of the broadcast.
