Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk prepares for second ISS spacewalk this week
Joshua Kutryk will conduct his second spacewalk on the International Space Station to install the final solar array, completing a series of upgrades to the station’s power system.
Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk is scheduled to exit the International Space Station today for his second spacewalk in two weeks. The mission will see him and NASA astronaut Anil Menon attach the eighth and final solar array to the starboard side of the station’s truss, completing the upgrade of the station’s power capacity.
Kutryk, who launched aboard SpaceX Crew-13 on Oct. 1 for a six-month stay, previously became the fifth Canadian to perform a spacewalk on Oct. 29, when he and Menon installed seven of the eight new arrays. The Canadian Space Agency notes that spacewalks are required to repair or install equipment and to carry out manual work on the orbiting laboratory.
The last Canadian to conduct a spacewalk before Kutryk was David Saint-Jacques in 2019.