Power Up! Astronauts Just Finished a 6-Hour Space Construction Job
Quick Summary
Two NASA astronauts floated outside the International Space Station on Thursday, August 6. They spent six and a half hours bolting together new hardware in the vacuum of space. The job will make the station ready for a fresh set of solar panels later this year.
What Happened?
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon stepped out of the ISS’s Quest airlock at 8:33 in the morning. They were floating about 260 miles above Earth — higher than most airplanes ever fly.
Their task was to assemble a special set of mounting brackets. These brackets are like a scaffolding frame, but in space. Once the frame is ready, a brand-new roll-out solar array can be clipped into place on a future mission.
The work took 6 hours and 27 minutes. That is longer than most school days! Menon and Meir finished all their main goals before heading back inside.
This was a big personal milestone for Menon. It was the very first spacewalk of his career. Meir was an old hand — this was her sixth trip outside.
Two more astronauts, Jack Hathaway and Sophie Adenot from the European Space Agency, stayed inside the station the whole time. They helped by talking the spacewalkers through every step.
Why Does It Matter?
The International Space Station is getting older. It has been orbiting Earth for more than 25 years. NASA wants to keep it running for several more years and eventually bring it safely back down.
New solar panels mean more electricity. More electricity means the station can keep its science labs, computers, and life-support systems running smoothly. Think of it like swapping tired old batteries in a flashlight for brand-new ones — the whole thing shines brighter.
This was the seventh and final set of mounting hardware installed for the new arrays. It is part of a long project that started back in 2021. This spacewalk was the 281st in the whole history of the space station.
Big Words
- Spacewalk — when an astronaut leaves the spacecraft and floats in the vacuum of outer space, usually to do repair or building work
- Solar array — a set of connected solar panels that catch sunlight and turn it into electricity, like a rooftop solar panel but much bigger
- Vacuum — a space with almost no air at all; in the vacuum of space, sound cannot travel and there is no air to breathe
- Airlock — a small room with two sealed doors that lets astronauts safely move between the pressurized inside of the station and the airless outside
- EVA — short for Extra-Vehicular Activity, the official NASA name for a spacewalk
Fun Fact
The spacesuit each astronaut wears weighs about 280 pounds on Earth — roughly as heavy as a refrigerator. In space, weight disappears, but the suit is still very bulky, like wearing a small car around your body!
Think About It
If you had to spend six and a half hours doing one careful, complicated job outdoors, what would make it hardest — and what snack would you want waiting for you when you came back inside?
Sources
- NASA Space Station Blog — ‘Astronauts Complete Spacewalk for Solar Array Modifications’ (Aug 6, 2026)
- Space.com — ”One more step’: NASA astronauts conduct 6.5-hour spacewalk to prep ISS for solar array upgrade’ (Aug 6, 2026)
- Yahoo News / UPI — ‘NASA astronauts conduct 6.5-hour spacewalk to install solar array mounting hardware’ (Aug 6, 2026)