A seventh roll-out solar array has been installed on the ISS
· BehindLines newsroom
A new roll-out solar array is in place on the International Space Station. According to NASA's account published on 29 October, Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk installed and deployed the seventh unit in the series on power channel 2A. Their spacewalk lasted seven hours and eleven minutes and ended at 3:08 p.m. US Eastern Daylight Time.
One installation completed, another planned
This confirmation goes beyond the objective described in the 14 October schedule. The US agency's account also says the astronauts carried out preparations for the next spacewalk. It therefore separates completed work from what remains planned.
A second spacewalk by the same astronauts is scheduled for 5 November, this time on channel 3B. It is intended to install the eighth and final array in the series and complete the power upgrade. That date remains part of a plan: the outcome on 29 October does not establish that the entire project is finished.
NASA presents the equipment as an additional electricity supply for station operations, including its future controlled deorbiting. Its account describes an installation without providing a measurement of the power gain achieved after this one spacewalk.
Work within a longer mission
For Kutryk, the spacewalk forms part of his first space mission. On 1 October, the Canadian Space Agency announced a stay of about six months involving experiments, technology demonstrations and maintenance.
The Canadian programme includes planned health research and robotics activities. These announced tasks provide context for his presence in orbit; they do not, by themselves, constitute a report on work outside the station. The account of the 29 October spacewalk used here comes from NASA.