NASA Astronauts Complete Spacewalk to Prep ISS Solar Array Upgrade

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and The Times of India successfully completed a 6-hour, 27-minute spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Thursday, August 6, 2026. The extravehicular activity marked the seventh and final set of mounting hardware installations required for the station’s new solar arrays, marking a key milestone in augmenting the orbiting laboratory’s power channels.

NASA Astronauts Complete Successful Spacewalk to Prep ISS Power Upgrades

The spacewalk began at 8:33 a.m. EDT when the two astronauts switched their spacesuits to internal battery power. Working in the harsh vacuum of space, Meir and Menon assembled and secured a modification kit to the 3B mast canister on the station’s power channel. After building the structure, the spacewalkers routed cabling designed to carry electricity from future International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs) into the 3B power channel, and covered the struts with multi-layer insulation to protect them against micrometeoroid strikes. The spacewalk officially concluded at 3:00 p.m. EDT when the crew re-entered the Quest airlock.

Upgrading Aging Power Systems in Low Earth Orbit

The space station has relied on solar power for nearly 26 years, but the facility’s eight original legacy solar arrays began showing degraded power output as they exceeded their 15-year design lives. The newer iROSA wings sit forward of the older arrays, augmenting electricity generation rather than replacing it. When operating in tandem with the new iROSA wings, the upgraded system will increase the station’s total electricity supply by 20% to 30%.

From left, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon work outside the International Space Station during a spacewalk to — Photo: NASA

These advanced solar arrays provide a stable power supply for hundreds of scientific experiments, life-support systems, and future operations. The power enhancements also form a part of NASA’s long-term strategy to maximize the station’s operational life while supporting preparations for its eventual controlled deorbit later in the next decade. The only other power channel currently lacking a deployed iROSA is power channel 2A, located on the port side of the station.

Milestones and Upcoming Expedition 75 Operations

Thursday’s mission represented a historic career milestone for Menon, a physician, mechanical engineer, former emergency medicine specialist, and former SpaceX flight surgeon selected by NASA as part of the 2021 astronaut class. Stepping outside into the vacuum of space for his maiden spacewalk, Menon became one of the most prominent Indian-origin astronauts representing NASA, carrying forward a legacy that includes astronauts with Indian roots such as Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams. For veteran astronaut Jessica Meir, the outing was her sixth career spacewalk, bringing her total cumulative time on extravehicular activity to 42 hours and 33 minutes.

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The excursion marked the first spacewalk for the station’s Expedition 75 crew, serving as the 96th U.S. extravehicular activity and the 281st spacewalk overall dedicated to space station assembly, maintenance, and enhancement. Following Thursday’s operations, two more U.S. spacewalks are scheduled for the month of August:

EVA 97 (August 13): Scheduled to work on replacing a space-to-ground communications antenna.
EVA 98 (August 25): Scheduled to connect power channel cables and data relay systems as part of ongoing maintenance, prepare for the station’s future deorbit, and replace a navigational aid used for spacecraft docking.

Today, we made one more step toward expanding the ISS power system, further sustaining our human presence in low Earth orbit, as we prepare to take those next steps, Meir said following the completion of the spacewalk objectives.