Astronauts complete 7-hour spacewalk outside space station

NASA and CSA astronauts pulled off a marathon 7-hour spacewalk to upgrade the orbiting laboratory’s energy supply

Astronauts complete the 285th U.S. ISS spacewalk to install a brand-new roll-out solar array. ©Image Credit: NASA
Astronauts complete the 285th U.S. ISS spacewalk to install a brand-new roll-out solar array. ©Image Credit: NASA

Working in the freezing vacuum of space is no small feat and doing that for a couple of hours is even incredible. Two astronauts at the International Space Station just made that feat more incredible by completing a 7-hour, 11-minute spacewalk.

NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk successfully wrapped up the grueling trip on Thursday.

Powering up the orbiting laboratory

While the spacewalk is awesome, this wasn’t just any routine trip outside the airlock. The astronauts carried out the mission in order to install and deploy a brand-new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) on the station’s 2A electrical power channel. This marks the seventh solar array added to the orbiting laboratory in the efforts to bring a massive upgrade for the aging station.

What made this mission more special is the fact that this was the 285th U.S. spacewalk dedicated to space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades and the first for Kutryk. Menon, on the other hand, had embarked on three spacewalks before this mission. Together, all eight planned roll-out arrays will eventually boost the station’s total power generation capacity from 160 kilowatts up to roughly 215 kilowatts, increasing available power by up to 30 percent.

Anil Menon of NASA (left) made his fourth spacewalk mission while Josha Kutryk (right) made his first. ©Image Credit: NASA
Anil Menon of NASA (left) made his fourth spacewalk mission while Josha Kutryk (right) made his first. ©Image Credit: NASA

Setting the stage for the final upgrade

Beyond getting the seventh array up and running, the spacewalking pair also knocked out several preliminary setup tasks. They laid down vital groundwork to prepare for the upcoming eighth and final solar array installation, which is scheduled for November 5.

Once that final panel is securely in place, the station’s massive power project will be complete, securing the necessary energy needed to support critical operations and its eventual safe, controlled deorbit.

Sources: ScienceDaily, NASA