Astronauts install space station’s 7th roll-out solar array
NASA Mission Control says the new panel will add 8 kilowatts to the station’s power capability. The final installation is scheduled for 5 November.
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NASA Mission Control says the new panel will add 8 kilowatts to the station’s power capability. The final installation is scheduled for 5 November.
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk installed and unfurled the International Space Station’s 7th roll-out solar array on October 29, 2026. Their spacewalk lasted 7 hours and 11 minutes, Spaceflight Now said.
NASA Mission Control commentator Rob Navias said the newly opened panel would add 8 kilowatts to the station’s overall power capability. It is the latest addition to an upgrade that supplements the station’s ageing original solar wings.
Space shuttles delivered the 8 original wings between 2000 and 2009. Those wings were designed to last 15 years.
The smaller roll-out arrays are mounted in front of the original wings rather than replacing them. They partly shade the older panels, but the exposed portions of those panels continue generating electricity.
NASA projects that all 8 new arrays together will raise the station’s available power from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts. That is the projection for the completed upgrade; the 8-kilowatt contribution Navias described is from the latest installation alone.
The panels are intended to power the station through its planned retirement in 2030. NASA says the additional power will support critical operations, including a safe, controlled descent out of orbit. The Canadian Space Agency says the new array will also help power critical systems and onboard research.
Canadarm2, the station’s Canadian-built robotic arm, carried Menon and the array to the installation site and provided a stable work platform. NASA astronaut Luke Delaney operated the arm from inside the station with support from astronaut Jessica Watkins.
Spacewalks planned for October 29 and November 5 would install the last two roll-out solar arrays in the International Space Station’s eight-array power upgrade.
The astronauts made the electrical connections while the station was in Earth’s shadow. The cables could only be handled and connected during these dark periods, when the station’s solar panels were not generating electricity. NASA Mission Control in Houston directed the spacewalk, while Canadian Space Agency controllers in Longueuil helped monitor and support it.
Kutryk completed his first spacewalk, becoming the 5th Canadian astronaut to walk in space. The outing brought Menon’s spacewalk count to 4.
The first roll-out array opened at the station in June 2021. By 2023, 6 were installed, and NASA ordered the additional pair that summer. The final pair arrived aboard a cargo spacecraft launched on October 13, 2026.
Menon and Kutryk are scheduled to return outside on 5 November 2026 to install the 8th and final array, completing the planned set.
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