U.S. Spacewalk 100 Set for Oct. 29: Two Astronauts to Install the Space Station's Seventh Roll-Out Solar Array, With the Final One on Nov. 5
HOUSTON — NASA's International Space Station blog for Oct. 26 said the Expedition 75 crew began the week gearing up for a spacewalk to upgrade the station's power generation system: NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Joshua Kutryk will exit the Quest airlock at 8 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 29, to install the seventh International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) in U.S. spacewalk 100. Live coverage begins at 6:30 a.m. EDT on NASA+.
The spacewalk is planned to last six hours and 45 minutes. Menon and Kutryk will first release the roll-out solar array from an external pallet; Menon will then attach himself to the Canadarm2 robotic arm, retrieve the array and ride the arm to the installation worksite on the port-side truss, while Kutryk, tethered to the truss, translates to the same worksite to join him and complete the installation, after which mission controllers will activate the new array. On Monday the pair, joined by NASA flight engineers Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, who will help them in and out of their spacesuits and assist with the Canadarm2, familiarized themselves with the arm maneuvers and checked their emergency spacesuit jetpacks for fuel, battery power and thruster function.
The array will be installed on the station's 2A electrical power channel. NASA said it will provide additional power to support critical station operations, including the station's eventual safe and controlled deorbit.
In the second spacewalk, on Nov. 5, Menon and Kutryk will install the eighth and final IROSA on the station's 3B channel, completing the power augmentation upgrades. Together, the eight roll-out arrays will increase available power by up to 30 percent, boosting the station's electric power generation capacity from 160 kilowatts to approximately 215 kilowatts. The two outings will be the 285th and 286th spacewalks in support of space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades.
Other work aboard the station on Monday included transferring supplies to and from SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft, which docked autonomously to the Harmony module on Oct. 15 and is due to return to Earth in mid-November loaded with science and hardware, and Delaney documenting his sleep patterns for a stress-reduction study and tending bioprinted blood vessel tissues, part of research using microgravity to create customized, individualized tissues for patients.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Canadarm2机械臂抓握着一块卷轴式太阳能电池板（资料图，摄于此前一次同型电池板安装任务）。图片来源：美国国家航空航天局（NASA），公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。/ Photo: A roll-out solar array (IROSA) in the grip of the Canadarm2 robotic arm (file photo from an earlier installation of the same array type). Source: NASA, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
- 2026-10-26U.S. Spacewalk 100 Set for Oct. 29: Two Astronauts to Install the Space Station's Seventh Roll-Out Solar Array, With the Final One on Nov. 5This story
- 2026-10-29Follow-Up: U.S. Spacewalk 100 Completed: Two Astronauts Install Seventh Roll-Out Solar Array in 7 Hours 11 Minutes, Station Power to Rise to About 215 Kilowatts
