By This Hour Science Desk
NASA plans to outline two U.S. spacewalks that it says will finish the International Space Station’s planned solar-power augmentation, a pair of operations with consequences well beyond the immediate work outside the orbiting laboratory. The agency has scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, at Johnson Space Center in Houston, nine days before the first planned excursion.
The work is scheduled for Oct. 29 and Nov. 5. NASA says astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk will install and deploy the final two International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, known as IROSAs. One array is intended for the 2A electrical power channel; the other is intended for 3B. If both operations are completed as described, NASA says the eighth array will conclude the station’s power-system upgrade.
The scheduled spacewalks carry milestone numbers that can obscure their practical purpose. NASA identifies them as U.S. spacewalks 100 and 101, while also counting them as the 285th and 286th spacewalks in support of station assembly, maintenance and upgrades. The immediate objective is hardware installation. The broader objective, in NASA’s account, is to add electrical capacity for the station’s continuing operations and for its eventual controlled deorbit.
Two dates, two electrical channels, one planned finish line
NASA’s published schedule places the first operation on Thursday, Oct. 29. Menon and Kutryk are slated to leave the station through the Quest airlock, then install and deploy a roll-out solar array on the 2A channel. NASA describes that unit as the seventh IROSA. Its completion would add power for station activities and, the agency says, for work associated with a safe and controlled end of the station’s operational life.
A week later, on Thursday, Nov. 5, the same two astronauts are scheduled to return outside for spacewalk 101. Their assignment is to install and deploy the eighth and final array on the 3B channel. NASA says that operation would complete the planned augmentation, tying the two spacewalks together as the closing tasks in an eight-array effort rather than as unrelated maintenance outings.
That sequencing matters because NASA has presented the installations as a paired conclusion. The Oct. 29 task is not described as the final upgrade by itself; it would place the seventh array. The Nov. 5 task is explicitly framed as the last installation. A change to either plan could therefore affect the expected completion date for the overall augmentation, even if the other installation proceeded.
The agency has not, in the information provided for the briefing, detailed the operational conditions that would govern whether either spacewalk proceeds on its scheduled day. Nor does the announcement set out contingency dates, describe alternate crew assignments or specify how a delay in the first outing would alter the second. Those omissions do not establish that such plans do not exist. They mean the public notice does not answer those questions.
The power increase NASA expects from eight arrays
NASA says the full set of eight roll-out arrays is expected to raise the station’s available power by as much as 30%, from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts. The agency uses “up to” in describing that increase, so the figure should be understood as an expected maximum rather than a guarantee of a fixed increase under every operating condition.
Even so, the numbers explain why the final pair of installations is being treated as a consequential engineering milestone. A move from 160 kilowatts to approximately 215 kilowatts would represent an increase of roughly 55 kilowatts in stated generation capacity. NASA’s description connects that expanded supply to station operations, while also placing it in the longer horizon of planning for a controlled deorbit.
The planned deorbit reference is significant because it situates a near-term maintenance assignment within the station’s full remaining operational lifecycle. NASA is not presenting the new arrays solely as a short-lived enhancement. It says their added power is relevant to critical operations and to the station’s eventual disposition. The announcement does not provide a timetable for that controlled deorbit, and none should be inferred from the scheduled spacewalk dates.
Nor does the briefing notice specify how the added capacity will be allocated among individual systems, experiments or other station needs. It gives an overall target for available power and names the channels receiving the new equipment, but it does not supply a system-by-system accounting. The Oct. 20 conference may clarify those practical questions, but NASA has not yet said which technical details its officials will address.
For readers following NASA’s wider low-Earth-orbit planning, the work also comes as the agency pursues plans for commercial stations intended to follow the International Space Station. NASA’s solicitation for industry proposals on commercial space stations concerns that future architecture. The two scheduled spacewalks, by contrast, concern maintaining and upgrading the existing station’s power system. The available announcement does not claim that the solar-array installations are part of the commercial-station solicitation.
A briefing before the astronauts head outside
NASA says the Oct. 20 news conference will originate from Johnson Space Center. Gaurang Patel, an operations integration manager in NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program, and Garrett Hehn, a spacewalk flight director in the Flight Operations Directorate, are named as participants. Their roles place the announced session at the intersection of broader station operations and the execution of an individual extravehicular activity.
The distinction is useful. Patel’s inclusion signals that the agency intends to address how the work fits into station operations. Hehn’s participation indicates that the briefing is also expected to cover the spacewalk side of the plan. Yet the announcement names no astronauts as briefing participants and does not say whether Menon or Kutryk will appear. It likewise does not identify any other flight directors, program managers or international partners who may join them.
NASA says it will provide further coverage information closer to the two spacewalks through its live-events page and its space station blog. That leaves the Oct. 20 event as the scheduled public marker before the first planned installation, while more specific viewing or operational coverage arrangements are deferred. The agency’s notice says the briefing itself will be streamed through its platforms.
The dates also establish a compressed operational sequence: a preview conference on Oct. 20, the first planned installation on Oct. 29, then a second planned installation on Nov. 5. This timing gives NASA an opportunity to describe the intended order of events before the work begins. It does not, however, amount to confirmation that the tasks have been carried out. Both excursions remain scheduled operations in the agency’s notice.
Milestone labels do not eliminate operational uncertainty
There are two overlapping ways to understand the numbering NASA supplied. “U.S. spacewalk 100” and “U.S. spacewalk 101” identify the upcoming operations in the agency’s U.S. sequence. The figures 285 and 286 describe the broader count of spacewalks supporting the station’s assembly, maintenance and upgrades. Each numbering system highlights the accumulated history of work outside the station, but neither changes the fact that the announced pair remains prospective.
The announcement also presents Menon and Kutryk as the planned team for both assignments. Reusing the same two-person crew would give the two outings a direct continuity in the published plan: the astronauts who place the seventh array would also place the eighth. Still, NASA’s notice does not explain what would happen if staffing, timing or task sequencing changed. It is therefore more precise to say they are scheduled than to treat the crew lineup as immutable.
Several important details are outside the supplied record. NASA has not stated in the announcement how long each spacewalk is expected to last, how the hardware will be positioned and secured, or what specific steps will be taken during deployment. It has not described possible technical complications, listed decision points for postponement, or provided an assessment of the final arrays’ performance after installation. A later briefing may supply some of that information; the current notice does not.
There is also a difference between a planned capacity gain and measured performance. NASA’s stated 160-to-approximately-215-kilowatt figure is an expectation for the completed eight-array configuration. The announcement contains no post-installation data because the last two installations have not yet occurred. Any conclusion that the system has already reached the projected capacity would go beyond what NASA has announced.
What confirmation will require
The most immediate test of the plan will be whether spacewalk 100 takes place on Oct. 29 and successfully installs the seventh array on 2A. The following week’s work on 3B would then determine whether NASA can declare the eight-array augmentation complete on the schedule it has published. Confirmation should come from NASA’s subsequent operational coverage, not from the preview notice alone.
NASA’s account supports a clear outline: two named astronauts, two named power channels, two scheduled dates and a stated goal of completing an eight-array upgrade. It also supports the agency’s estimate that the finished configuration could raise available power by up to 30%. What it does not establish is whether the scheduled outings will occur unchanged, whether deployment will succeed as planned or whether the anticipated power level will be achieved in operation.
This report is based on NASA’s announcement and has not been independently corroborated. The claims about schedule, crew assignments, hardware placement, expected power capacity and the role of the arrays in station operations are NASA’s stated plans and expectations, not independently verified outcomes.
Reporting notes
What is confirmed: Menon and Kutryk are scheduled for Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 work on the 2A and 3B power channels.
Why this matters: NASA says the eight-array configuration could raise available station power by up to 30% and support continuing operations.
What remains unclear: The announcement does not establish whether the spacewalks will proceed as scheduled or deliver the projected capacity. This report is based on one source and has not been independently corroborated.
