NASA plans to hold a news conference on Tuesday, Oct. 20, to outline two scheduled spacewalks intended to finish a power-system upgrade on the International Space Station. The briefing is set for 2 p.m. EDT at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and will be streamed online, NASA said in an Oct. 14 announcement.
The agency listed Gaurang Patel, operations integration manager for the Low Earth Orbit Program, and Garrett Hehn, a spacewalk flight director, as participants. U.S.-based media seeking to attend in person or join by phone were asked to contact the Johnson newsroom by 3 p.m. Oct. 19. Reporters planning to ask questions must dial in at least 15 minutes before the briefing begins.
The first operation, designated U.S. spacewalk 100, is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 29. NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk are expected to leave the station through its Quest airlock and install and deploy a roll-out solar array on the 2A electrical power channel.
A second spacewalk is planned for Thursday, Nov. 5. Menon and Kutryk are scheduled to install and deploy the eighth and final International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array, or IROSA, on the 3B channel. NASA says that work would complete the station’s power augmentation project.
According to the agency, the eight roll-out arrays together are expected to raise available power by as much as 30%, increasing electrical generation capacity from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts. NASA said the added power will support essential station operations, including its eventual safe, controlled deorbit.
The two planned outings would be the 285th and 286th spacewalks conducted in support of station assembly, maintenance and upgrades, NASA said. The agency said it would publish further coverage information closer to each spacewalk through its live-events page and space station blog. The announcement describes the dates as planned operations; it does not report that either spacewalk has occurred.
