Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk are preparing to leave the International Space Station on Thursday, 5 November, to install its eighth and final roll-out solar array. NASA’s Monday update set the start for 8.10am US Eastern Standard Time, which is 2.10pm in Nigeria. The work is expected to last about seven hours.
The astronauts will work on the station’s starboard truss. That is the opposite side from the port structure where they fitted another array on 29 October. Menon represents NASA and Kutryk the Canadian Space Agency. The new schedule concerns a separate installation that is still ahead, rather than a second announcement of the completed October work.
NASA expects the completed upgrade to increase the station’s generating capacity from about 160 kilowatts to roughly 215 kilowatts, an increase it describes as about 30 per cent. These figures describe the station’s power system. They do not measure electricity supplied to homes on Earth or the output of a Nigerian solar installation.
On Monday the pair reviewed procedures for the Canadarm2 robotic arm with Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney. The four astronauts also discussed readiness with spacewalk specialists and spoke with robotics engineers. Those preparations matter because work outside the laboratory depends on people inside the station and controllers on the ground as well as the two spacewalkers.
Research continued during the preparations. Kutryk exercised while wearing sensors to study how the heart and breathing respond to weightlessness. Delaney tended printed vascular tissue samples. Watkins checked a portable DNA sequencer used to analyse antibiotic-resistant bacteria. NASA reported these activities as work in progress, without announcing a new treatment or a completed medical breakthrough.
What it means for you. Readers in Nigeria who want to watch can plan around the local time instead of adding an hour to a US clock. NASA+ coverage is scheduled from 12.45pm on Thursday, ahead of the 2.10pm start. The useful distinction is between a published plan and confirmation that the installation has been completed. Check the mission’s latest notice before watching, because operational schedules can change.