Stream of the Day
NASA tackles ISS upgrades in live spacewalk
A live broadcast follows astronauts connecting power and data systems 400km above Earth during the station’s final years in orbit.
A livestreamed spacewalk will take astronauts outside the International Space Station (ISS) to replace equipment that helps visiting spacecraft dock. About 400km above Earth, the crew will work in the vacuum of space to keep the orbiting laboratory operating through the final years.
The operation, titled US Spacewalk 98, will be broadcast on NASA’s social media channels tomorrow (25 August 2026). The spacewalk concludes a three-part August maintenance programme focused on the station’s power, communications and long-term operation. The task includes connecting power-channel cables and data-relay systems.
The August programme began with US Spacewalk 96. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon installed hardware to modify the station’s 3B power channel ahead of a future ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) installation. The seventh IROSA will supply additional power for critical operations during the station’s remaining years.
US Spacewalk 97 focused on replacing a Space-to-Ground antenna used to transmit data between the ISS and Mission Control in Houston. Although numbered 96, 97 and 98 in the US series, the operations are the 281st, 282nd and 283rd ISS spacewalks overall.
The work supports ongoing maintenance, including preparations for a future controlled deorbit. The process will eventually take the ISS out of orbit and guide the laboratory through Earth’s atmosphere towards a chosen re-entry area.
NASA plans to operate the ISS through 2030 before retiring the laboratory. Natural atmospheric drag will help lower the station during deorbit preparations. After the final crew has returned to Earth, controllers will use a purpose-built vehicle to target the re-entry over a remote, uninhabited ocean area.
Most of the station will burn up or vaporise during re-entry, but some dense or heat-resistant components are expected to survive. A controlled descent is designed to direct surviving debris away from populated regions.
* Watch the livestream on NASA’s social media channels here.
