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Astronauts Install Seventh Solar Array on ISS
· Confirmed
In Short: Astronauts Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk successfully installed the seventh International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) during a spacewalk that lasted seven hours and 11 minutes.
Astronauts Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk successfully installed the seventh International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) during a spacewalk that lasted seven hours and 11 minutes. The installation, which began four hours and 23 minutes earlier, involved Menon using a power tool to unbolt a final restraint, allowing the IROSA to unroll to its full length of 60 feet in about 10 minutes as the station moved back into orbital daylight.
The new IROSA and the final unit to be installed next Thursday will complete an upgrade that began in 2021 when the first of eight ISS roll-out solar arrays was installed at the base of an existing solar wing. This upgrade is expected to increase the station's power generation capability by 20-30 percent, from 160 kilowatts to around 215 kilowatts, aiding future ISS expansion and supporting the station's planned safe, controlled deorbit in 2030.
During the spacewalk, Menon and Kutryk also carried out a few 'get-ahead' tasks, preparing the final IROSA for installation next week, and returned to the Quest airlock, bringing the spacewalk to an end at 3:08 p.m. EDT. The astronauts have now logged a combined 11 hours and 38 minutes outside the station, outfitting Power Channel 1A on the starboard-side S-4 truss and Power Channel 1B on the S-6 truss.
The two final arrays arrived at the station rolled up and folded on a carrier in the unpressurized trunk of a SpaceX Cargo Dragon, which launched Oct. 13 atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously dock with the station's Harmony module at approximately 11 a.m. and is expected to remain attached until mid-November.
The new solar arrays are part of a complex, years-long upgrade of the lab's aging power system. Over time, the station's original solar panels have experienced natural degradation due to prolonged exposure to space radiation and thermal cycles. The addition of roll-out arrays expands total electricity generation, supplying power for onboard scientific research, life-support operations, and safety systems required for the laboratory’s eventual de-orbit sequence.
Spacewalk flight director Garrett Hehn noted, 'They are around 750 pounds in that folded configuration, they're about 10 feet long, and so it's a lot to handle.' The spacewalkers also had to handle the arrays as they were installed, with Menon anchoring to the end of the station's 58-foot-long robot arm to carry the array over to its mounting point farther outboard along the power truss.
The space station remains a vital scientific platform, providing the foundation needed to survive and thrive as humanity ventures into the unexplored territories of our universe. NASA and Boeing first announced plans to expand the power architecture of the U.S. Operational Segment (USOS) in January 2021, with an upgraded set of six electricity-generating solar arrays to be added to six of the station’s eight 'legacy' Solar Array Wings (SAWs).
What this adds
The astronauts' successful installation of the seventh IROSA marks a significant milestone in the station's power system upgrade, which began in 2021. The final pair of roll-out solar arrays will complete the station’s power system augmentation and increase available electricity for research and operations.
Background
Four hours and 23 minutes after beginning their spacewalk, astronauts Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk successfully installed the seventh International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA).
What's confirmed
- NASA says a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the company’s 35th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, carrying more than 6,300 pounds of supplies and hardware.
- EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
- According to NASA, the final pair of roll-out solar arrays are intended to complete the station’s power system augmentation and increase available electricity for research and operations, as well as support the station’s planned safe, controlled deorbit.
- It will attach to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.
What's still developing
- Although no ghouls, goblins, or trick-or-treaters come knocking at the International Space Station’s front hatch, crew members aboard the orbiting laboratory still like to get in the Halloween spirit.
- Explore stories, images, and research from more than 25 years of continuous human presence aboard the space station.
- READ: Indian American NASA astronaut Anil Menon makes first spaceflight (July 15, 2026) To differentiate between team members during operations, Meir wore a suit with red safety stripes as spacewalk crew member 1, while Menon served as crew member 2 in an unmarked suit.
- The mission arrives at a busy time on the station.
- Dragon also is delivering several new experiments, including hardware to manufacture artificial retinas in microgravity that could help restore vision for patients on Earth and 3D heart tissue models to advance large-scale drug testing on future space missions.
- NASA’s SpaceX 35th commercial resupply mission lifted off at 6:33 a.m.
- These are just a sample of the hundreds of investigations conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science.
- Lab-grown human brain tissue, a machine designed to print artificial eye retinas layer by layer, and the final set of solar arrays the International Space Station will ever need are all riding inside the capsule, according to reporting from India Today.
- CRS-35 is the 35th flight under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract with SpaceX, the long-running arrangement that keeps the International Space Station stocked with everything from food and spare parts to active science experiments.
- The AVATAR-Org1 investigation sends lab-grown human-brain models, called miBrains, to the space station for five weeks, according to the investigation page published by NASA Science.
- SpaceX is set to launch a cargo mission to the International Space Station before dawn Tuesday that could bring a sonic boom to Central Florida.
- It heads to the station after a parking spot opened up last week when Crew-12 departed the orbiting laboratory, as there are only two docking ports that can support Dragon spacecraft.