Astronauts complete solar upgrade to boost space station's power supply
What's the story
Expedition 75 flight engineers Anil Menon of NASA and Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency have successfully installed the final International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA). The installation was part of a five-year upgrade project to enhance the power supply of the orbiting laboratory, which is expected to be operational until 2030. The last IROSA was deployed at around 3:05pm EST on Thursday (1:35am IST, today), after overcoming an unexpected power issue during its installation process.
Glitch details
Final IROSA was deployed at the far starboard end
The final IROSA was deployed at the far starboard end of the station's main truss, but not without a hitch.
Flight controllers in Houston detected lower-than-expected electrical current from the newly-installed array and paused its deployment for another orbital pass.
This gave Kutryk time to inspect a power connector in the darkness of orbital night. After confirming it was securely connected, they resumed deployment operations with "good currents."
Upgrade impact
Space station's power boosted by up to 30%
The eight IROSAs will boost the station's power by up to 30%, NASA said.
This will help keep the outpost operational in its final years, including a "safe and controlled deorbit."
The astronauts switched their spacesuits to battery power at 8:36am EST to start this mission.
They began repressurizing the Quest airlock at 3:35pm EST, marking an official end of a nearly seven-hour-long spacewalk.
Spacewalk history
Ninth spacewalk of the year
This was the ninth spacewalk of 2026 and the sixth by members of Expedition 75 crew.
For Menon, it was his fifth spacewalk, extending his total time outside to over 33 hours.
This was Kutryk's second outing, having logged a total of over 14 hours across two IROSA installation missions.
After the power upgrade mission, NASA's next planned US spacewalks are scheduled for early January 2027 to upgrade the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer cosmic-ray detector mounted on station's truss.
Twitter Post
Spacewalk lasted around seven hours
The final solar array is installed — and now unfurling.
— NASA (@NASA) November 5, 2026
When this solar array is completely deployed, the @Space_Station will generate approximately 215 kW, boosting the orbiting laboratory’s power by up to 30%. pic.twitter.com/YJ4eYTEEJ4