NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk completed a 7-hour, 11-minute spacewalk on the International Space Station, installing and deploying the seventh International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) on the station's 2A electrical power channel. The work finished at 3:08 p.m. EDT.
The new solar array provides additional electricity for essential operations, including the station's eventual safe and controlled deorbit. The mission was designated U.S. spacewalk 100 and marked the 285th spacewalk conducted to support the station's assembly, maintenance, and improvement. It was Menon's fourth spacewalk and Kutryk's first.
The astronauts also completed preliminary tasks for another spacewalk scheduled for November 5, when they will install the eighth and final solar array on the station's 3B power channel. Once complete, the eight new arrays will increase the station's available power by as much as 30 percent, raising its electricity generation capacity from 160 kilowatts to approximately 215 kilowatts.