Last updated: November 5, 2026, 3:30 AM IST
The International Space Station is about to get its last big power upgrade. On Thursday, November 5, astronauts Joshua Kutryk and Anil Menon are scheduled to step outside the station and unroll the eighth and final ISS Roll-Out Solar Array, known as an IROSA. When that panel is in place, a project that began in 2021 will be complete, and the station's generating capacity will rise from about 160 kilowatts to roughly 215 kilowatts.
That sounds like an engineering footnote. It is not. Power is what keeps the station alive: it runs the life-support systems, the science racks, the communications gear and, eventually, the controlled descent that will bring the station safely out of orbit at the end of its life, currently planned for 2030. The November 5 spacewalk is the finale of a slow, careful rebuild of the station's wings, carried out one panel at a time, 400 kilometres above Earth.
The first of the pair went up a week earlier. On October 29, Kutryk and Menon installed the seventh IROSA on power channel 2A, an outing NASA designated US spacewalk 100. The second, US spacewalk 101, puts the eighth array on channel 3B. By NASA's wider count, these are the 285th and 286th spacewalks in support of station assembly, maintenance and upgrades. Here is what happened, what happens next, and why a solar panel in orbit matters to anyone who will never leave the ground.
What Happened on October 29: US Spacewalk 100
On October 29, Menon and Kutryk left the station through the Quest airlock and spent roughly six hours and 45 minutes working on the station's truss, the long girder that carries its solar wings. Their job was to fit the seventh IROSA and unfurl it, a process that looks deceptively simple on video — a rolled-up mat of solar cells that unrolls like a carpet — and is anything but simple when you are wearing a pressurised suit, tethered to a structure moving at 28,000 kilometres per hour.
For Menon, it was his fourth spacewalk. He had already been outside on August 6, 2026, preparing the station's starboard truss for one of these new arrays, so the October outing was a continuation of work he had personally started. For Kutryk, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut on his first spaceflight after arriving with SpaceX Crew-13 on October 1, it was his first time outside a spacecraft at all. He became the fifth Canadian astronaut to work outside the station, and the first since David Saint-Jacques in April 2019.
NASA's numbering can confuse people, so it is worth being precise. The "US spacewalk 100" label counts American-led excursions from the station, a series that began with Carl Walz and Dan Bursch during Expedition 4 in February 2002. The 285th/286th figures count every spacewalk that has supported the station, including those from the space shuttle era. Both counts are real; they just measure different things.
The November 5 Finale: The Eighth and Last Array
The November 5 outing mirrors the first: same crew, same airlock, same basic task, different channel. The eighth IROSA goes on power channel 3B, on the station's starboard side. NASA scheduled the spacewalk to begin at about 8:10 a.m. Eastern Time, with coverage from around 6:45 a.m., and an expected duration similar to the first outing.
One detail worth noting is the role of Canadarm2, the Canadian-built robotic arm, which serves as a platform for one of the spacewalkers to stand on during parts of the work. It is a neat piece of symmetry: the arm was attached to the station with help from Chris Hadfield on Canada's first spacewalk in April 2001, and a Canadian astronaut is now standing on it to finish the station's power upgrade a quarter of a century later.
If the November 5 installation goes to plan, the station's solar augmentation programme is done. There is no ninth array waiting in a warehouse. The eight IROSAs, layered in front of the station's original wings, are the complete set — and the station will fly out its remaining years on the power they provide.
What Exactly Is an IROSA?
An IROSA is a thin, flexible solar panel that launches rolled up like a yoga mat and unrolls once it is bolted into place. It mounts in front of one of the station's original solar wings and partly covers it. The old wings still generate power; the new panels add to it. The first IROSAs reached the station in June 2021, and they have been added in pairs ever since.
The reason for the upgrade is age. The station's original arrays were designed for a 15-year life, and after more than two decades in orbit they were producing less power than they once did. Rather than replacing the whole power system — an enormous job — engineers chose to augment it: bolt new, more efficient panels over the old ones and let both work together. NASA says the full set raises available power by up to 30 percent, taking capacity from 160 kilowatts to about 215.
That extra power is not just for running more experiments, although it does that. It is also, in NASA's own framing, needed for the station's eventual safe and controlled deorbit. Bringing a 420-tonne structure down through the atmosphere in a controlled way, into a remote stretch of ocean, takes energy, guidance and margin. A station running short of power at the end of its life would be a much harder and riskier problem.
How the Final Arrays Got There: The CRS-35 Delivery
The last two IROSAs did not arrive by accident. They were delivered by SpaceX's 35th Commercial Resupply Services mission, CRS-35. A Dragon spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on October 13, 2026 — a sunrise launch that produced a glowing "jellyfish" sky display seen across the eastern United States — and docked with the station's Harmony module two days later.
The cargo weighed more than 2,850 kilograms and included science supplies, research hardware and samples alongside the two solar arrays. After docking, Menon opened Dragon's hatch and, together with Kutryk and fellow NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, began transferring supplies into the station's freezers and racks, according to NASA's station blog on October 16. The arrays were then staged for the two spacewalks, one week apart.
It is a reminder of how much of spaceflight is logistics. The glamorous part is the spacewalk; the part that makes it possible is a cargo manifest, a docking, and days of careful unpacking in a weightless corridor barely wider than a person.
Why This Upgrade Matters Beyond the Station
The IROSA design is already influencing how engineers think about power on future spacecraft. A panel that launches compact and deploys to a large area solves one of the oldest problems in spaceflight: rockets are narrow, but solar arrays need to be big. Roll-out panels let you pack more power into a smaller fairing, which matters for lunar surface systems, deep-space probes and commercial stations now being designed as the ISS approaches retirement.
There is also a quieter point about international partnership. The station is a joint project, and this finale is a genuinely shared one: an American astronaut and a Canadian astronaut, working with a Canadian robotic arm, installing panels delivered by an American commercial spacecraft, on a station built by five space agencies. When people ask what international cooperation in space actually looks like, this is a reasonable answer — two people in suits, bolting down a solar panel together.
And there is the timeline. The station is expected to operate until around 2030. Completing its power upgrade in November 2026 means it enters its final years with its energy system in the best shape it has been in for a decade, able to support both the science still planned and the controlled ending that has to follow.
What to Watch on November 5
The practical things to look for: a clean installation and deployment of the eighth array, confirmation that channel 3B is producing power as expected, and the crew returning safely through the Quest airlock after roughly seven hours outside. Spacewalks rarely go exactly to the minute, and NASA builds in time for stuck bolts, stubborn connectors and the general awkwardness of working in gloves the thickness of oven mitts.
If you watch the coverage, pay attention to the moment the panel unrolls. It is one of the most satisfying sights in modern spaceflight: a flat, dark sheet spreading out against the black of space, catching the Sun, and quietly turning light into the electricity that keeps six or seven people alive in orbit. It is also, for the last time in this programme, the end of a job that started five years ago.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is happening on November 5, 2026?
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk are scheduled to install the eighth and final ISS Roll-Out Solar Array on power channel 3B, completing the station's solar power upgrade.
What was US spacewalk 100?
It was the October 29, 2026 spacewalk by the same two astronauts to install the seventh IROSA on power channel 2A. NASA counts it as the 100th US spacewalk from the station, and the 285th station-support spacewalk overall.
How much power do the new arrays add?
NASA says the full set of eight IROSAs raises the station's generating capacity from about 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts, an increase of up to 30 percent.
How did the final arrays reach the station?
They were delivered by SpaceX's CRS-35 Dragon mission, which launched on October 13, 2026 and docked with the station on October 15, carrying more than 2,850 kilograms of cargo.
When will the space station be retired?
The station is currently planned to operate until around 2030, ending with a controlled deorbit into a remote ocean area. The upgraded power system helps support both remaining operations and that final descent.
Sources
- NASA — NASA Sets Coverage for SpaceX 35th Station Resupply Launch, Arrival
- NASA Space Station Blog — SpaceX Dragon Docks With Science Supplies and Roll-Out Solar Arrays
- Spaceflight Now — SpaceX Launches NASA Science and Cargo to the International Space Station
- SpaceQ — Josh Kutryk Will Do Two Spacewalks to Finish the ISS's Solar Upgrade
My Personal Take
I find this story quietly moving in a way the big rocket launches are not. Nobody is going to Mars on November 5. Two people are going to spend seven hours in suits, wrestling with bolts, to finish a job that started five years ago — and when they are done, a machine the size of a football field will simply have more power. That is what most of spaceflight actually is: unglamorous, precise, cumulative work.
The part I keep coming back to is the deorbit. We built this thing together, all of us, and we are now spending real effort making sure it can come down safely when its time comes. That is a decent model for how to treat big shared projects in general: build them well, maintain them honestly, and plan the ending before you need it.
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