NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk installed and unfurled the seventh of eight new IROSA solar arrays during a spacewalk on October 29. The pair worked for seven hours and 11 minutes, switching their spacesuits to battery power at 7:57 a.m. EDT and returning to the station at 3:08 p.m. EDT.
The IROSA, which stands 60 feet when fully extended, deployed from its rolled-up configuration in about 10 minutes using energy stored in carbon-fiber composite booms. Each array generates approximately 8 kilowatts of electricity. Mission Control commentator Rob Navias said the spacewalk "was essentially flawless" and the astronauts finished far ahead of schedule, allowing them to complete preparations for the final IROSA installation planned for November 5.
The eight new arrays will raise the station's available power from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts, increasing power generation capability by roughly 30 percent. The arrays mount in front of the station's original eight solar wings, which space shuttles delivered between 2000 and 2009.
This was Kutryk's first spacewalk after arriving at the ISS on October 1 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon. He became the fifth Canadian astronaut to walk in space and the first since David Saint-Jacques in 2019. For Menon, it was his fourth spacewalk, bringing his total EVA time to 26 hours and 31 minutes.
The 285th spacewalk devoted to station assembly, maintenance and upgrades brought NASA's cumulative spacewalk time outside the ISS since 1998 to 75 days, seven hours and 14 minutes.