Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk is scheduled to step outside the International Space Station on Thursday for the first spacewalk of his career, CBC reports. He will work alongside NASA astronaut Anil Menon on one of two excursions aimed at installing eight new solar arrays on the orbiting laboratory.
The station circles Earth at an altitude of about 400 kilometres and travels at roughly 7.66 kilometres per second, according to CBC. Kutryk and Menon will be moving at that same speed as they work outside the structure.
The second spacewalk is planned for Nov. 5. Once both are complete, the new arrays are expected to raise the station's power capacity from 160 kilowatts to 215 kilowatts, CBC reports.
Why it matters
The spacewalk puts Canadian hardware and Canadian personnel at the centre of an operation that involves three separate roles, according to CBC. Beyond Kutryk's work outside the station, CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons will act as capsule communicator from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and the Canadarm2 robotic arm will be used to handle the solar arrays.
Gibbons has taken the capcom role before, including during the Artemis II mission in which Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen flew around the moon alongside three NASA crew members, CBC reports.
Mathieu Caron, director of the CSA's astronaut office, told CBC that the assignment reflects Canada's standing in the international partnership that runs the station. He said spacewalk and capcom duties are not handed out casually, and that the operation could not be carried out without Canadian robotics.
Robotic arm does the heavy lifting
The arrays, known as International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays (IROSAs), arrived on a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft. Canadarm2 removed them from the capsule earlier last week and positioned them on the station's mobile base, according to CBC.
During Thursday's spacewalk, the robotic arm will help the two astronauts collect each array from that base and carry it to its installation point. Menon will be the one riding the arm; Kutryk will not, CBC reports.
The CSA's Robotics Mission Control Centre in Longueuil, Que., will also be involved in the operation.
A veteran's perspective
David Saint-Jacques, the most recent Canadian to perform a spacewalk, in 2019, described the experience to CBC in blunt terms. He called the work extremely hazardous but said crews prepare thoroughly for it, and he characterised a spacewalk as a feat of coordination.
Saint-Jacques also said a spacesuit is better understood as a small spacecraft built around a human body than as an item of clothing the wearer simply puts on.
He pointed to a 2013 incident involving European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, whose helmet began taking on water during a spacewalk. Parmitano was able to get back inside the station shortly afterward.
Saint-Jacques said Kutryk has rehearsed the procedures repeatedly and knows them well. In his view, the hardest part may be pausing long enough to take in the view of Earth. He offered Kutryk a direct message of encouragement: "Josh, I know you're gonna do a good job. You've got this."
Kutryk has trained for the spacewalk at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and the crew has spent the past week running suit checks, CBC reports.
Watch for the second spacewalk, scheduled for Nov. 5, which is expected to complete the array installation and deliver the full power increase.
