ISS spacewalk installs the final mount for its next solar-array upgrade

On August 6, 2026, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon installed solar-array mounting hardware outside the International Space Station; NASA’s completion update records a duration of 6 hours and 27 minutes and identifies power channel 3B as the prepared worksite. The astronauts returned to the Quest airlock after completing the outing’s primary objectives.

The result is a ready attachment point, not a newly deployed solar wing. The completed structure and its electrical connections will allow a future International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array, or iROSA, to augment the station’s aging power system during its remaining operations and preparations for a controlled deorbit.

How the spacewalk prepared power channel 3B

The astronauts worked on the Starboard 6, or S6, section of the station’s long truss. They assembled triangular support brackets, secured the structure around the 3B mast canister, routed cables that will carry electricity from the future array and protected the struts with multilayer insulation.

This hardware forms the structural and electrical interface between the station and the roll-out wing that will arrive later. It gives a future spacewalking crew a prepared site where the array can be attached, connected and deployed instead of requiring the support structure to be built during the same operation.

The outing began when Meir and Menon switched their spacesuits to battery power and ended after they had returned to the airlock. Menon completed his first career spacewalk, while Meir completed her sixth; the operation was designated U.S. spacewalk 96.

What changed in the station’s power layout

The independent mission account from Space.com identifies the 3B hardware as the seventh and final iROSA mounting set, with six roll-out arrays already deployed and power channel 2A remaining as the other channel without one. The mount completed during this outing therefore closes the preparatory hardware campaign even though additional array delivery and installation work remains.

• Before the spacewalk: channel 3B still lacked the support structure and routed connection needed for its planned roll-out wing.
• After the spacewalk: the bracket and cable path are in place, but the worksite produces no additional electricity because an iROSA was not installed.
• After the future installation: the roll-out wing will operate with the original array assigned to the channel rather than replacing it.

The station’s original solar wings and the newer roll-out arrays are designed to work in tandem. An iROSA sits in front of part of a legacy wing, leaving sections of the older array exposed so both can generate electricity through the existing power-channel architecture.

That arrangement matters because the legacy arrays have lost output as they have aged. Adding generating area at selected channels increases available power without requiring crews to remove the original wings or reconstruct the station’s truss and electrical-distribution system.

Why a seventh iROSA matters near the end of ISS operations

Electricity is needed continuously for life support, thermal control, communications, computers, pumps, heaters and research equipment. More generating capacity gives station operators additional margin as older hardware produces less power and the orbital complex moves through its final operational years.

NASA’s updated spacewalk advisory says the array assigned to 3B will be the seventh iROSA, is scheduled for delivery later in 2026 and will provide power for critical station operations, including work supporting a safe, controlled deorbit. The advisory was last updated on August 7, 2026.

The solar array will not perform the deorbit maneuver or propel the station. Its role is electrical: keeping systems available while crews and controllers maintain the ISS, preserve communications and complete the operational preparations required before the complex is deliberately removed from orbit.

Completing the mount in advance separates that late-life power upgrade into manageable stages. The structural interface and cable route are now prepared; delivery, attachment, connection and deployment of the wing remain distinct future milestones.

The array still needs a firm installation date

The available schedule gives a delivery window but not a firm date for installing and deploying the 3B wing. Delivery alone will not change the station’s generating capacity, because the packaged array must still be moved to its exterior worksite and integrated with the completed mount.

The present state is therefore specific: the final iROSA mounting set is installed, channel 3B is ready to receive its roll-out wing, and no new array was deployed during the spacewalk. The next consequential update will be the array’s arrival and the scheduling of the operation that turns the prepared hardware into an operating part of the ISS power system.

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