Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and NASA astronaut Anil Menon are set to leave the International Space Station on Thursday to install a new solar array, Spaceflight Now and CBC News report.

The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at eight am Eastern time from the station's Quest airlock and last about six hours and 45 minutes, Spaceflight Now reports. The pair will install and unroll the seventh of eight new roll-out solar arrays, known as IROSAs.

The compact panels make up for power lost as the station's original solar wings have worn down over more than two decades. A second spacewalk on November 5 would install the eighth and final array. NASA says the new arrays will raise the station's power from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts. That will keep the station running until it is retired in 2030.

Kutryk, 44, will become the fifth Canadian to walk in space and the first since David Saint-Jacques in 2019. He arrived at the station on October 1 with SpaceX's Crew-13 mission. Menon will ride the station's Canadian-built robotic arm, Canadarm2, carrying the array into place. Each array weighs about 750 pounds.

CBC News reports Canada is playing a big role. Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons will serve as the voice to the crew from Houston, and the Canadian Space Agency will help from its robotics center in Quebec.

"It's ridiculously dangerous, but we're well-prepared," Saint-Jacques said, according to CBC News. Spaceflight Now notes NASA's spacesuits date to a design first flown in 1983. A flight director called them "not entirely redundant."

What we know: Kutryk and Menon are scheduled to install a new solar array on the space station Thursday.
What we don't: Whether the spacewalk will go as planned, and whether the November 5 spacewalk will stay on schedule.