Astronauts set for spacewalk to install part of solar array

Two astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station Tuesday, August 24, for a spacewalk to install a support bracket in preparation for future installation of the orbiting laboratory’s third new solar array.

Live coverage of the news conference and spacewalk will air on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and astronaut Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will install a support bracket, called a modification kit, on the inward port side of the station’s backbone truss structure in a position known as P4, which is closest to the station’s pressurized living space. The kit prepares the site for future installation and deployment of the third of six new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSA) to upgrade one of the station’s eight power channels known as 4A, which provides partial power to the US Laboratory, the Harmony module, and the Columbus module. The modification kit will be attached to the mast canister at the base of the original solar arrays.

The crew will also replace a device that measures the electrical charging potential of the arrays and associated surfaces in its vicinity, called a floating point measurement unit, on a separate truss.

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