Spacewalkers complete space station solar power upgrade

Completing a complex upgrade five years in the making, two spacewalking astronauts on Thursday mounted an eighth and final roll-out solar wing on the International Space Station, boosting the lab's power output to compensate for the age-related degradation of its original arrays. NASA began the power-system upgrade in 2021 when two spacewalkers installed the first ISS roll-out solar array, or IROSA, at the base of one of the original eight wings. Six additional panels were attached during subsequent spacewalks, with the most recent installation carried out last week during a spacewalk by NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk. Astronaut Anil Menon, anchored to the end of the International Space Station's robot arm, carries the eighth and final set of add-on solar arrays to the far right side of the lab's power truss for installation. NASA TV The duo ventured back outside Thursday to install the eighth and final IROSA on the far right end of the station's power truss, beginning the extravehicular activity, or EVA — NASA speak for "spacewalk" — at 8:36 a.m. ET.The final two IROSAs were delivered to the station aboard a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule earlier this ...