Spacewalkers begin final phase of multi-year space station power system upgrade
NASA astronauts have successfully installed the seventh of eight roll-out solar arrays on the International Space Station. This upgrade is part of a multi-year effort to modernize the station's aging power system and increase its energy capacity.
Why it matters
Maintaining the ISS power grid is critical for the continued operation of the laboratory and the success of long-term space research missions.
Two astronauts stepped outside the International Space Station Thursday for the first of two spacewalks, one week apart, to install a final pair of roll-out solar blankets that will complete a complex, years-long upgrade of the lab's aging power system.Running well ahead of schedule, NASA's Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk installed the first set of ISS roll-out solar arrays, or IROSAs, on the left side of the lab's power truss as planned.As a safety precaution, they waited until the station was in orbital darkness, with no sunlight generating any power, before connecting cables tying the new IROSA into the lab's power circuits.Four hours and 23 minutes after the spacewalk began, as the space station moved back into orbital daylight, Menon used a power tool to unbolt a final restraint, and the IROSA slowly unrolled, stretching out to its full length of 60 feet in about 10…
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