ISS Crew Completes 100th U.S. Spacewalk and Deploys Seventh iROSA Solar Array
What happened
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk deployed the seventh International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array during a 7-hour-11-minute excursion 260 miles above Earth.
The Context
- Infrastructure upgrade: The 750-pound (340 kg) carbon composite array unfurled to 63 feet (19 m), counteracting the power degradation of the platform’s legacy solar panels.
- Milestone mission: The operation marked the 100th U.S. spacewalk conducted from the station without a docked space shuttle, bringing the total station spacewalk tally to 285.
- Deorbit runway: Delivering arrays via SpaceX cargo flights lifts total power from 160 kW to 215 kW, providing the baseline energy required to sustain orbital science until the scheduled 2030 deorbit.
The Number
— The tally of U.S. airlock spacewalks now completed on the station, demonstrating the maturity of orbital maintenance cycles required by commercial platforms entering the low-Earth orbit economy.
Takeaway
Expect the final iROSA deployment scheduled for November 5, 2026, to fully lock in the station's final power profile for its remaining four years of service.
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