Spacewalkers install new solar array

Menon and Kutryk are cleaning up the work site at the P4 truss and are proceeding towards some work ahead items for next Thursday's spacewalk.

Some of the work-ahead items for Kutryk and Menon will include removing the booms that helped store the seventh IROSA. They may also get to some prep work for next Thursday's spacewalk, per Navias.

Menon is now driving two tension bolts, which will make the IROSA as taut as possible.

With the IROSA now fully extended, and the space station back in a night pass, Menon is preparing to attach the fourth and final main electrical connector. Navias says because they are running as far ahead on the timeline as they are, Menon and Kutryk may also get to some work-ahead items while they have time outside the space station today.

The seventh IROSA has been unspooling for about seven minutes in front of the legacy solar arrays.

The seventh IROSA is now unfurling. The process will take about 10-12 minutes.

Menon and Kutryk are in the midst of releasing the final two restraint bolts. Once the IROSA begins to unfurl, it will take about 10-12 minutes to fully extend. The space station is currently passing over the South Atlantic Ocean at an altitude of about 434 km.

Now a little past the four-hour mark in today's spacewalk, Navias says teams are running about an hour ahead of the original timeline. With three out of the four power connections attached, the fourth will be mated during the next night pass. Right now, Kutryk and Menon are cleaning up the work site as the space station passes over the South Pacific Ocean at an altitude of about 426 km.

Navias says that there have been no issues experienced during this spacewalk as the ISS is currently in a day pass. The station is currently traveling at an altitude of nearly 428 km, passing over the North Pacific Ocean. Our new ISS tracker can show you the station's position around the globe 24/7: https://spaceflightnow.com/tracker/

A little more than 3.5 hours into the mission, Menon and Kutryk have mated three out of the four major power connectors for the IROSA. They will pause on this work for about an hour until they are fully in a night pass again. They are in a safe configuration to pause this work.

Both Menon and Kutryk are at their de-mate locations. They are working to complete the remaining power hookups during this night pass with Navias reiterating that they are running ahead of the clock.

Navias says if all of the power connections cannot be completed during this nighttime pass, Menon and Kutryk will pause and wait for the next one, since they don't want to be interacting with them when power is flowing.

Kutryk and Menon are preparing to open the IROSA after engaging the soft capture. There are about 20 minutes remaining in the night pass. Menon says they should proceed with the power cable mating and Kutryk agrees.

Teams in Mission Control Center Houston are determining whether they will use this current night pass to begin hooking up the power cables first or to unroll the IROSA first. Navias says they are still running ahead of the timeline.

Now more than three hours into the spacewalk Menon and Kutryk are working to release a hinge restraint on the IROSA. This will allow it to fully unfurl to its full length of about 60 feet. Menon is now being translated away from the IROSA.

The manual maneuver of the Canadarm-2 of about half a meter is complete, moving to Menon's right. His spacesuit has the red stripe on his legs. Kutryk continues working on the IROSA mod kit. The ISS is about 10 minutes away from going into a night pass where they can start making the electrical connections on the IROSA. Navias says things have proceeded as expected so far on today's spacewalk with no bolt issues.

The solar array has been soft-docked to the 2A electrical power channel.

Now more 2.5 hours into the spacewalk, Ayers told Menon and Kutryk that when they're working on the mod kit for the new IROSA that they shouldn't make simultaneous or sudden movements.

Kutryk is translating along the station to position himself for installing the IROSA.

Now more than two hours and 16 minutes since the start of today's spacewalk, Menon is being moved on the end of the Canadarm-2 to begin aligning the IROSA with the bracket for power channel 2A.

Menon is holding the new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) at the end of the robot arm after it was removed from the stowage pallet on the station's truss.

Final bolts are being released holding the ISS roll-out array in its carrier.

Menon is now in a foot restraint, riding on the end of the Canadian robot arm, while Kutryk continues to work in the area of the iROSA pallet.

Now an hour into today's spacewalk.

The astronauts are using pistol grip tools to release the bolts holding the array.

The two spacewalkers are working to release a series of bolts that hold the iROSA to its storage pallet.

Menon and Kutryk have made their way down the space station truss to the location of the pallet holding the International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) that they will be installing today.

Previous Canadian spacewalkers (with the date of their first spacewalk) were: Chris Hadfield (STS-100, April 2001), Steve MacLean (STS-115, September 2006), Dave Williams (STS-118, August 2007), and David Saint-Jacques (Expedition 59, April 8, 2019).

Joshua Kutryk has also left the airlock. He has now become the fifth Canadian astronaut to make a spacewalk.

Menon is now outside the airlock. This spacewalk is expected to last about seven hours.

"The night is dark and full of wonder," said Menon as he opened the thermal cover that protects the airlock hatch. He will be first to leave the airlock.

The astronauts space suits are now on internal battery power. NASA considers this the start of the spacewalk. The official start time was 7:57 a.m. EDT (1157 UTC), according to Mission Control commentator Rob Navias.

The hatch is now open.

The airlock has reached vacuum and the spacewalkers are starting to open the outer hatch.

Pressure inside the Crew Lock section of the Quest airlock is approaching vacuum.

Astronaut Nichole Ayers in Mission Control has taken over from the station crew in communicating instructions to the spacewalkers. She is designated Spacewalk Communicator for this excursion. Astronaut Jenni Gibbons is the CAPCOM in mission control, an acronym from the early days of the space program standing for Capsule Communicator.

Approaching 2 psi now.

Now 4 psi in the airlock.

Leak checks are reported good and depressurization to vacuum will now continue.

Space suit leak checks underway as the pressure in the airlock has reached 5 psi.

Airlock pressure now 9 psi.

The airlock depressurization is underway. Pressure in the compartment will initially drop to 5 psi where it will be held for space suit checks before being lowered to a vacuum.

Meanwhile at the Kennedy Space Center, the Pegasus barge is departing for the Stennis Space Center. It's carrying a New Glenn second stage for test firing at the Mississippi facility.

The hatch between Equipment Lock and Crew Lock sections of the airlock is now being closed ahead of depressurization of the outer compartment.

Kutryk, who will be referred to as EV2 by Mission Control, has now joined Menon inside the Crew Lock section of Quest. Next up will be closure of the hatch.

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk is now being fitted with his SAFER back pack.

Menon has now moved into the outer Crew Lock portion of the Quest Airlock. He can be easily identified by the red stripes on his space suit, indicating he is designated EV1 for this excursion. This will be his fourth spacewalk since arriving at the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz craft in July.

The Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER), a small, self-contained jet pack, is now being fitted to Anil Menon's space suit.

The crew is running slightly ahead of the timeline according to NASA commentator Rob Navias. The spacewalk is due to get underway at about 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC) but first the spacesuits will be fitted with SAFER units, jet back packs that will be used in the unlikely event a crew member becomes untethered from the space station. They will then move into the crew lock portion of the Quest airlock for depressurization.

NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk are awaiting the start of today's spacewalk. They are buttoned up inside what NASA calls Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), better known as space suits.