HOUSTON, TX, Nov. 5, 2026 — The International Space Station's long power-augmentation campaign is finished.
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk concluded their spacewalk outside the station at 3:35 p.m. EST Thursday after installing and deploying the eighth and final International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array on the 3B power channel, NASA said in a space station blog post by Mark A. Garcia at 3:52 p.m.
The outing lasted six hours and 59 minutes. Together, the eight roll-out arrays increase the station's power generation capacity from about 160 kilowatts to approximately 215 kilowatts, NASA wrote — the target Mission Control has cited throughout the upgrade.
From airlock exit to final unfurl
The duo set their spacesuits to battery power at 8:36 a.m. EST, marking the official start of U.S. spacewalk 101, NASA said in an earlier blog when the walk began. That matched the plan NASA posted Wednesday after managers cleared the EVA.
During the nearly seven-hour job, Menon and Kutryk mounted the flexible array on the far end of the starboard truss and unfurled it. NASA's evening post included imagery of the array unfurling after the install on the starboard truss, "completing the upgrade of the orbital outpost's power generation system."
The @Space_Station account on X summarized the outcome Thursday afternoon: Kutryk and Menon "completed their spacewalk at 3:35 p.m. EST today after installing the eighth and final roll-out solar array. This completes the upgrade of the International Space Station's power generation system."
How big a job this was
Work to augment station power began in February 2021, NASA said. Since then, astronauts have completed 18 spacewalks to prepare power-channel equipment and install the eight arrays. Thursday's walk was Menon's fifth spacewalk and Kutryk's second. It was also the 286th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades, according to NASA.
The flexible iROSA blankets supplement the station's original rigid solar wings, which have degraded after more than two decades in orbit. Launchpad covered the start of Thursday's walk in the Midday Brief; this story is the completion update from NASA's primary blog and the station's official X account.
Florida's tie-in
Kennedy Space Center and Florida's contractor workforce have built and launched much of the hardware that keeps the station powered, including prior iROSA deliveries. More available power supports research, life support and future commercial module demand on the orbiting lab.
NASA said viewers can follow further station updates on the space station blog and @Space_Station on X. Treat the "approximately 215 kilowatts" figure as NASA's stated completed-system target, not a Launchpad measurement.
Sources: NASA space station blog, Mark A. Garcia, "Spacewalkers Install Final Roll-Out Solar Array," Nov. 5, 2026, 3:52 p.m.; NASA blog "Spacewalk Begins to Install Last Roll-Out Solar Array," Nov. 5, 2026; @Space_Station on X, Nov. 5, 2026, 3:55 p.m. ET post.
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