Anil Menon, riding the space station robot arm, moves the folded, rolled-up IROSA assembly to its installation point at the Starboard end of the space station truss. Image: NASA.
During Thursday’s spacewalk, the astronauts will install the eighth and final International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array, or IROSA.
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk will venture outside the International Space Station today to complete a five-year effort to upgrade the space station’s power system.
During Thursday’s spacewalk, the astronauts will install the eighth and final International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array, or IROSA.
Coverage of the spacewalk will begin at 7 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC). Work outside the orbiting outpost is scheduled to get underway around 8:30 a.m. EDT (1330 UTC) and is expected to last about seven hours.
The work to install the IROSA arrays began in June 2021 and will boost the space station’s power generating capacity from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts.
Menon and Kutryk are in their space suits inside the equipment lock of the Quest airlock conducting exercises to purge their blood of nitrogen. This is performed to avoid decompression sickness, commonly known as the bends. This dangerous condition occurs when dissolved nitrogen forms bubbles in the bloodstream and body tissues during changes in pressure.
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk is the lead spacewalker today and can be identified by the call sign ‘EV1’ and the red stripes on his spacesuit. Kutryk is making his second spacewalk, the first occurred last week for the installation of the seventh IROSA.
NASA’s Anil Menon will use the call sign EV2 and is making his fifth spacewalk since arriving at the space station in July on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Metal oxide canisters, which scrub carbon dioxide from the astronauts’ breathing air, are being installed in the space suits’ back packs. These reusable canisters have a silver-oxide-based absorbent.
Kutryk has moved into the Crew Lock portion of the space station’s Quest airlock.
The Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER), a small, self-contained jet pack, is now being fitted to Anil Menon’s space suit. Kutryk’s SAFER was installed earlier.
Inside the Equipment Lock astronaut Luke Delaney reporting some trouble installing Menon’s SAFER unit. He and Jessica Watkins will remove the device and try reinstalling.
With Menon’s SAFER unit installed, he is joining Kutryk in the Crew Lock portion of the airlock. The SAFER units will be used in the unlikely event a crew member becomes untethered from the space station.
The first IROSA solar array was installed in June 2021. Today’s spacewalk will see installation of the eighth and final array. The arrays were delivered to the space station in the unpressurized trunk section of SpaceX Cargo Dragon vehicles.
Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins have closed the hatch between the equipment and crew lock sections of Quest.
Work to depressurize the airlock in now getting underway.
The airlock is now at 10 psi.
Pressure now falling below 7 psi. To conserve supplies, most of the atmosphere in the airlock is pumped back into the space station. Only a small amount is vented overboard.
Airlock down to 6 psi.
The depressurization of the airlock will be held at 5 psi for space suit leak checks.
With successful leak checks of the space suits, depressurization is continuing. Now 4 psi in the airlock.
Pressure has dropped to 3 psi.
Astronaut Nichole Stilwell in Mission Control has taken over from Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins in communicating instructions to the spacewalkers. She is designated Spacewalk Communicator for this excursion. Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons is the CAPCOM in mission control, an acronym from the early days of the space program standing for Capsule Communicator.
Now less than 1 psi in the airlock.
Airlock pressure 0.5 psi.
Depressurization complete. The airlock pressure has been lowered from 14.7 psi to a vacuum. The spacewalkers have been told to go ahead and open the outer hatch.
The hatch is now open.
Kutryk and Menon’s spacesuits officially transitioned to battery power at 7:36 a.m. CT (8:36 a.m. ET), marking the official beginning of today’s spacewalk.
The hatchway on the Quest airlock is now open and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, EV-1 on today’s spacewalk, is the first one out.
Kutryk and Menon will perform “buddy checks” to ensure everything is nominal with the other’s spacesuits as they proceed throughout today’s EVA.
Kutryk is starting to translate out to the final ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA), which will be installed as the main objective of today’s spacewalk.
Menon and Kutryk have arrived at their first work station, the flight support equipment, to begin assembling their tools, like the pistol grip.
Kutryk is starting to work on the bolts holding down the IROSA.
Nearly half an hour into today’s spacewalk while Kutryk is doing the work to undo the C-bolts that are holding the IROSA down, Menon is getting in position to attach his feet to the Canadarm2. He’s currently working on the APFR (Articulating Portable Foot Restraint) as seen from his helmet cam view below.
As Menon thumbs through the procedures guide on his left cuff, some personal photos can be seen in the front of the booklet.
Kutryk continues to release the C-bolts holding down the IROSA and Menon has now stepped into the APFR on the Canadarm2.
Menon is being remotely moved into position on the Canadarm2. Following that, the next major motion will be to release the IROSA from its stowed position.
Once installed, this final IROSA, like the ones before it, will provide an additional 20 kW of power to the ISS. Below is a file photo from a previous IROSA installation to show its scale compared to an astronaut. The IROSAs were manufactured by Redwire Space, which is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. The ROSA technology is also being leveraged on missions, like NASA’s SR-1 Freedom, Axiom Space’s Axiom Station, and Blue Origin’s Blue Ring spacecraft.
The ISS is going through another, anticipated communications handover before they proceed.
Another buddy check just occurred to check for any water buildup in their helmets. No water confirmed and both spacewalkers confirm that their gloves are in a nominal configuration.
A view from Menon’s helmet cam as he confirms that his heels are secured on the APFR. As they approach the 1 hour mark in today’s spacewalk, NASA astronaut and spacewalk communicator Nichole Stilwell informs them that they’re running about 30 minutes ahead of the timeline.
The space station is about to head into an orbital sunrise, so Menon and Kutryk made sure that their spacesuits are in the right thermal configuration before that happens. Stilwell reminds them not to put their fingers in the IROSA pin slots.
Menon is now in motion with the IROSA.
Kutryk: “Clear of the tower itself.”
Menon reports that they’re clear of the pin from his perspective. Kutryk confirms clear of the tower and pin. Menon is currently holding the Redwire Space-built IROSA in his hands, assisted by some tethers as well. Kutryk is heading back to the airlock to reconfigure some of his tools.
The Canadarm2 is now translating to position Menon closer to the future home of the IROSA: affixed to the 3B power channel.
The ISS is currently flying about 426 km above the North Pacific Ocean more than 1,600 km WSW of Cold Bay in the United States. You can follow the path of the space station 24/7 by checking out our Orbital Tracker page: https://spaceflightnow.com/tracker/
Menon continues to be maneuvered on the end of the Canadarm2 towards the 3B power channel.
Menon in a roll maneuver with the IROSA while Kutryk continues to translate along the truss structure.
Just past an 1.5 hours into today’s spacewalk that was estimated to last about 6.5 hours in total.
Kutryk confirms he is now secure in his APFR so that he will have full use of his hands to help with the installation of the IROSA.
Menon is now in motion again, this time towards Kutryk, who is beside the 3B mod kit. This will set up a handoff of the IROSA from Menon to Kutryk.
Kutryk confirms he has control of the IROSA following a ground-assisted maneuver of the Canadarm2. Menon is now hands off and clear.
Menon taking some photos of Kutryk and the IROSA now that he is no longer holding onto it.
Space station is fewer than 400 km WNW of the Falkland Islands, which is off the coast of Argentina.
Working with Delaney and Watkins, Menon is being retreated from the IROSA and Kutryk.
Menon power cycled his HECA (High-definition EMU Camera Assembly) at the request of Stilwell. It is now back on.
Menon and Kutryk are now two hours into today’s spacewalk, which began at 7:36 a.m. CT / 8:36 a.m. ET. Menon is now out of his foot restraints on the Canadarm2.
Menon continues to maneuver around the 3B mod kit. As he was swung around, Kutryk says the rate of motion could’ve been a bit slower. He says the motion was fine, but says the stopping was worrying him a little bit.
Teams have decided not to proceed with early cable mating during this upcoming night pass of the space station. The next opportunity to begin that work will be 11:26 am CT / 12:26 pm ET. They are still running ahead of schedule at this point.
Another handoff of the IROSA now that Menon has situated himself. Kutryk is now hands off and is getting his tethers in place at the 3B mod kit. He is starting with his MUT (Multi-Use Tether).
Teams are ready to install the IROSA onto the mounting bracket. They are aligning the plate to make sure that all the bolts can go through properly.
Next, they will push or drill some of the soft capture bolts to make sure the IROSA is in place before proceeding now that it’s on the mounting bracket.
Menon released the final hinge restraint on the IROSA and is now working on the Articulating Foot Restraint.
Stilwell: “Reminder for both of you, the rotating IROSA is a pinch point, so keep clear… You’re about 10 minutes ahead of the timeline.”
The IROSA is now unfolded and is now at its full width of about 20 feet and Menon and Kutryk are now working to secure it to the mounting bracket.
Kutryk continues working on driving bolts to secure the IROSA.
Kutryk has driven in five out of the eight bolts he’s working on at his location. Menon is translating to the crew equipment translation aid cart (CETA cart) to retrieve the portable foot restraint.
All eight bolts that Kutryk was working to dive in are now complete as the ISS flies at an altitude of about 436 km over Rio Gallegos.
Now about 3.5 hours into the spacewalk, Kutryk is inspecting the cabling of the power cables. The space station will need to be in a nighttime pass before they can progress into the cable mating process.
Both Menon and Kutryk are working on the power cables now, using some of the knowledge from Menon’s spacewalk with ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot earlier this year. They were able to get the four cables and caps de-mated.
Now that the ISS is in a nighttime pass, Menon and Kutryk are now working to mate the power cables from the IROSA to the station 3B power channel. They are starting with cables P7 and P9.
A little more than 4 hours into today’s spacewalk. There are about a dozen minutes remaining in this nighttime pass.
Now that all of the power cables have been installed, team are waiting until they are back in a daytime pass of the ISS before unfurling the Redwire Space-built IROSA, which will extend to a full length of about 60 feet.
Teams are progressing towards the IROSA deploy shortly. They are pausing observation work on the electronics control unit (ECU), which Stilwell called a “side adventure,” something that they were able to begin since they’re running ahead of the timeline.
Team on the ground are troubleshooting an issue where they are seeing about half the current expected flowing to the 3B power channel. They will need to wait for another night pass, if they decide further work on those cables is needed.
More than 4.5 hours into the planned 6.5-hour spacewalk. Teams on the ground continue to discuss the power flow issue between the IROSA and the 3B power channel.
Stilwell says Menon and Kutryk will perform some site cleanup. Both tool bags will be left in place for the next nighttime pass. Discussions about the power situation are ongoing.
The Canadarm2 is now in motion back towards Kutryk and Menon with the articulating foot restraint on the end of it.
Stilwell says they are increasing the length of the spacewalk to an estimated seven hours. That allows for time to work on the power issue during the next nighttime pass and then deploy the IROSA during the successive day pass of the ISS.
Now in a nighttime pass, and about 4.5 hours into the spacewalk, teams on the ground have identified the power cable at issue and Kutryk will de-mate the P23-A cable to begin the troubleshooting.
The P23 cable has been de-mated. Kutryk reports “good pins, no FOD (…) inspection is good.”
Teams on the ground are continuing to troubleshoot the power flow issue. Kutryk says the cables he’s observing look good now.
With about 15 minutes remaining until the orbital sunrise, Stilwell informs Kutryk and Menon that they are 5 hours and 41 minutes into the spacewalk, which is now anticipated to last about seven hours.
Kutryk is positioned under the 3B mod kit as orbital daylight begins to wash over the ISS. They are going to deploy the IROSA during this next day pass.
The eighth and final IROSA is now unfurling in front of the legacy arrays. Power now flowing through the cables following the nighttime troubleshooting.
About halfway through the IROSA deployment.
Stilwell says, at the 6 hour 10 minute mark in the spacewalk, the remaining work will take them to about the seven-hour mark. She notes that Kutryk’s suit has about 20 additional minutes of consumables beyond that.
Deployment of the IROSA is complete.
The eighth and final ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) has been successfully installed on the space station by @astro_anil and @Astro_Kutryk with support from their colleagues on the ISS and at @NASAJohnson. pic.twitter.com/LXVBjhxj0u
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) November 5, 2026
Kutryk and Menon are making their way back to the hatch as they pass the 6.5-hour mark in the spacewalk.
Menon has the go ahead to proceed into the Quest airlock while Kutryk makes his way back there as well.
Kutryk has the go ahead to ingress into the airlock as well.
The thermal covering is now closing.
Stilwell: “You all showed us what the best of humanity looks like: executing one of the most difficult and dangerous things humans do and making it look easy. Congratulations.”
Stilwell hands over to NASA astronauts Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins on the other side of the hatch to continue with the re-pressurization procedures.
Pausing at 5 psi
The second and fifth spacewalks from Kutryk and Menon respectively has officially concluded. Three of Menon’s spacewalks have been connected to the IROSAs.
Re-pressurization is ongoing, now past 9 psi
Now 10 psi
Now 12 psi
Here are the latest numbers following the conclusion of today’s spacewalk:
Visual confirmation that the hatch has opened and the gloves and helmets are coming off.
This concludes today’s live coverage of the 286th spacewalk devoted to space station assembly and maintenance.

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