EnglishISS crew prepares to install final roll-out solar array on November 5
Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk are preparing for a Thursday spacewalk to complete the station’s roll-out solar-array upgrade.
Astronauts Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk are preparing to install the International Space Station’s eighth and final roll-out solar array on Thursday, November 5. The spacewalk is planned to begin at 8:30 a.m. EST and last about seven hours, according to a NASA station update published on November 2.
Menon, of NASA, and Kutryk, of the Canadian Space Agency, will work on the station’s starboard truss. They installed another roll-out array on the opposite, port-side truss during a spacewalk on October 29.
Once the installation is complete, the station’s power-generating capacity is expected to rise from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts. NASA describes the expected increase as roughly 30 percent.
Coverage and final preparations
NASA+ is due to begin live coverage at 7 a.m. EST on Thursday, ahead of the 8:30 a.m. spacewalk target. NASA noted that its November 2 update reflected revised coverage and start times.
On Monday, Menon and Kutryk reviewed Canadarm2 robotic-arm procedures with NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney. They also spoke with spacewalk specialists about readiness and with robotics engineers about support for the outing.
Research continued alongside the preparations. Kutryk exercised while wearing the Bio-Monitor’s sensor-equipped vest and headband, helping researchers study how the heart and breathing adapt to weightlessness. Delaney tended vascular-tissue samples printed in the BioFabrication Facility, while Watkins checked a portable DNA sequencer used to study antibiotic-resistant bacteria in microgravity.
Cover: an AI-assisted issue.red collage incorporating the NASA photograph from October 29, 2026. Drawn elements are illustrations; the cover does not show the future installation.