Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk completes second spacewalk
Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk completed his second spacewalk on Thursday, spending six hours and 59 minutes outside the International Space Station as he worked to upgrade the station’s power system.
Kutryk and NASA astronaut Anil Menon stepped back into the space station at the end of the spacewalk, which ended at 3:35 p.m. ET.
The astronauts installed the eighth and final solar array on the starboard side of the truss, which serves as the station’s structural backbone. The work completed an upgrade that began in 2021 and increased the station’s power-generating capacity from about 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts, according to NASA.
Thursday was a fifth spacewalk for Menon, NASA said. Kutryk became the fifth Canadian to perform a spacewalk on Oct. 29 when he and Menon installed the seventh array during a seven-hour, 11-minute spacewalk. Thursday’s work brought Kutryk’s career spacewalking time to 14 hours and 10 minutes.
The spacewalk got under way just after 8:30 a.m., when the astronauts switched their suits to battery power. Kutryk was first to emerge from the Quest airlock, with a red stripe on the legs of his space suit setting him apart from his colleague.
Canadian equipment and personnel had central roles. NASA astronauts Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins operated Canadarm2 from inside the station, while Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jenni Gibbons served as the spacecraft communicator at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Robotics teams in Houston and Longueuil monitored the arm.
The new arrays are smaller and lighter than the station’s original rigid solar wings. They unroll after installation and operate with the older arrays, adding power for scientific research and station systems.
NASA says the technology also provides information for solar-power systems that could support future missions. The space station itself is expected to remain in service through 2030 under current plans, making reliable power important for research and the work needed to prepare for its eventual retirement.
Kutryk, a Royal Canadian Air Force colonel from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., travelled to the station on NASA’s Crew-13 mission in October. His two spacewalks were the first by a Canadian since David Saint-Jacques went outside the station in 2019.
The completed installation is a technical milestone rather than the end of Kutryk’s mission. He remains aboard the station with his crewmates, conducting research and maintaining the orbiting laboratory. NASA’s schedule, spacecraft traffic and station operations can change, so return timing should be confirmed before any later update.
