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Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk is safely back inside the International Space Station after successfully completing his second spacewalk in two weeks.
Kutryk and NASA astronaut Anil Menon stepped into the vacuum of space Thursday morning after undergoing lengthy and detailed preparations with the help of their support team.
Kutryk was first to emerge from the Quest airlock, with a red stripe on the legs of his spacesuit setting him apart from his colleague.
It was the second spacewalk for Kutryk, who became the fifth Canadian to perform the feat on Oct. 29 when he and Menon worked together to install new solar arrays needed to upgrade the station’s power capacity.
It was the fifth spacewalk for Menon, NASA said.
This latest spacewalk came in just shy of seven hours, officially lasting six hours and 59 minutes before crew members made their way back inside the space station.
NASA astronaut Anil Menon performs work on the outside of the International Space Station on Thursday. (NASA)
The astronauts were working to install the eighth and final solar array on the starboard side of the truss, which serves as the station’s structural backbone.
Video of the spacewalk broadcast by NASA showed the two working step by step with tools Thursday morning while tethered to the space station, sometimes with Earth in the background.
Spacewalks dangerous but necessary
The Canadian Space Agency says spacewalks are among the most difficult and dangerous tasks for astronauts but are needed to repair or install equipment or carry out manual work.
The campaign to upgrade the solar arrays began in 2021 and is expected to increase the station’s power-generation capacity by up to 30 per cent, according to the agency.
Before Kutryk, the last Canadian to perform a spacewalk was David Saint-Jacques in 2019.
A huge day for Canada’s space program as Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk installed solar panels on the International Space Station in his first spacewalk, while fellow Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons worked on capsule communications.
Kutryk and his fellow crew members took off for the International Space Station on Oct. 1 for a mission expected to last six months.
The Canadian Space Agency said several Canadians played key roles in Thursday’s spacewalk. Those include CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons, who communicated with the crew as capsule communicator, or CAPCOM, from Houston.
The Canadarm2 robotic arm was used to move the solar array, while CSA teams in Longueuil, Que., helped support operations.
Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk is shown at the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida in March 2026. (Kelly Malone/The Canadian Press)
