NASA Astronauts Successfully Install Solar Panel Array on International Space Station

FLORIDA – Spent more than 6 hours in space, two astronaut NASA has successfully installed a solar panel array on the International Space Station (ISS). The 340-kilogram solar panel on the right side of the ISS backbone serves as an energy source.

Two astronauts NASA namely Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, carried out this important task on Friday June 9, 2023. Bowen and Hoburg, Expedition 69 mission crew wearing special space suits exited the Quest airlock and began work outside the ISS station.

Bowen heads to where the new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) is temporarily installed. Meanwhile, Hoburg retrieved and installed a portable leg brace on the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

He then climbed onto the arm, which was controlled by United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi from inside the space station. After Bowen removed the iROSA from the pallet, Hoburg held the 340-kilogram solar panel to carry it to its mounting cradle on the right side of the station’s backbone frame.

Hoburg holds the rolled iROSA as AlNeyadi moves an arm to move it and the hardware to a new location. The two astronauts then waited, to lay the cable connecting the new iROSA to the station’s legacy 1A power line solar array.

“It looks good. It looks like it lays out well, and everything seems to line up,” said Bowen, describing the new solar panel array as it unrolled.

Like the four previously deployed solar panels, the new array is 18.2 meters long by 6 meters long. Each new IROSA generates more than 20 kilowatts of electricity, and once all the arrays are installed, will allow a 30% increase in power production aboard the ISS panels.

After completing the main assignment for the spacewalk almost an hour ahead of schedule, the two astronauts re-entered the ISS. This spacewalk is the first from Hoburg and the ninth from Bowen.

Bowen has spent a total of 60 hours and 22 minutes in EVA, ranking him fifth in the world for the most time working in a vacuum. This is the seventh spacewalk for this year and the 264th dedicated to the assembly and maintenance of the International Space Station since 1998.

(wib)