During a spacewalk on Thursday, June 15, 2023, NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg, identifiable by the red stripes on his suit, collaborates with his Expedition 69 team member, Stephen Bowen. They work at the foundation of a newly installed Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) on the International Space Station (ISS). (Image credit: NASA TV)NASA astronauts Woody Hoburg and Steve Bowen have successfully concluded their mission to install a new roll-out solar array on the International Space Station (ISS), boosting the station’s power production by 30%. The milestone was achieved in a record-equalling 5-hour and 35-minute spacewalk, which began at 8:42 a.m. EDT on June 15, 2023.
The newly-installed International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) augments power generation for the 1B power channel on the station’s starboard truss structure. The 60 by 20 feet (18.2 by 6 meters) array overlays a little more than half of the original array, each new IROSA producing more than 20 kilowatts of electricity.
The mission marked the 10th spacewalk for Bowen, equalling the record for the most spacewalks by a U.S. astronaut, a distinction he now shares with Mike Lopez-Alegria, Bob Behnken, Peggy Whitson, and Chris Cassidy. The spacewalk was the second for Hoburg and the 265th in support of space station assembly, upgrades, and maintenance.
This task was the final installation of six upgraded solar arrays outside the ISS, augmenting the complex’s 1A and 1B power channels. The process involved the removal of the array from a temporary storage platform, and its alignment with a mounting bracket on the S4 truss. After securing the array with bolts and releasing the hinges, the spacewalkers awaited an eclipse to ensure the legacy IB solar array was not generating power before they began tying the new IROSA into the power channel. Once the ISS was in Earth’s shadow, Hoburg and Bowen connected the cables to the new array assembly and deployed the wing.
Despite a snag with a triangular panel on the array that caused it not to lie flat, the mission was not impeded, and the panel’s issue will be studied further.
NASA and Boeing are planning for a fourth set of roll-out arrays to further augment the ISS’s power supply, with the seventh and eighth arrays targeted for delivery in 2025.
Hoburg and Bowen are part of a broader science mission aboard the ISS, working to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions, including NASA’s Artemis lunar program.
The successful conclusion of the spacewalk at 2:17 p.m. EDT marks a significant step in the development of the ISS and further establishes the astronauts’ place in space exploration history.
