NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk were scheduled Thursday to leave the International Space Station's Quest airlock for U.S. spacewalk 100, a job to install and deploy a new roll-out solar array¹.

NASA said live coverage of the excursion would begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT on NASA+, YouTube, X, Discovery+ and Amazon Prime.

The pair's task is to install and deploy an International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array, or IROSA, on the station's 2A electrical power channel, NASA said¹. The agency called it the seventh IROSA and said the extra power is meant to support station operations, including a later safe and controlled deorbit¹.

A second U.S. spacewalk, numbered 101, is planned for Nov. 5, when Menon and Kutryk are to install and deploy the eighth and final IROSA on the 3B channel, completing the power-augmentation work¹.

NASA said the eight roll-out arrays together would increase available power by up to 30 percent, lifting generation from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts¹. It listed the two EVAs as the 285th and 286th conducted in support of station assembly, maintenance and upgrades¹.

NASA's live page did not state the planned hatch-open time in the listing extracted Thursday morning. Independent reporting that the crew would exit around 8 a.m. ET was not used here because it was not confirmed on NASA's pages¹.

What happens next on the array, and whether the spacewalk finishes on the planned timeline, depends on the live operation.

Sources

1. NASANASA to Host News Conference Previewing US Spacewalks 100, 101Oct 14, 12:00 PM

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