NASA astronauts will conduct a pair of spacewalks beginning Wednesday, March 18, outside of the International Space Station to prepare for the installation of two roll-out solar arrays. Experts from NASA will preview the spacewalks during a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Monday, March 16, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Watch NASA’s live coverage of the news conference on the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.
NASA participants include:
- Bill Spetch, operations integration manager, International Space Station Program
- Diana Trujillo, spacewalk flight director, Flight Operations Directorate
- Ronak Dave, spacewalk flight director, Flight Operations Directorate
Media interested in participating in person or by phone must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no later than 10 a.m. on March 16 by calling 281-483-5111 or emailing jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. To ask questions by phone, reporters must dial into the news conference no later than 15 minutes prior to the start of the call. Questions also may be submitted on social media using #AskNASA. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.
On March 18, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams will conduct U.S. spacewalk 94, exiting the orbiting laboratory’s Quest airlock to prepare the 2A power channel for the future International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (IROSA) installation. It will be Meir’s fourth spacewalk and Williams’ first.
Watch NASA’s live coverage beginning at 6:30 a.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. U.S. spacewalk 94 will begin at approximately 8 a.m. and is expected to last about six and a half hours.
For U.S. spacewalk 95, two NASA astronauts will prepare the station’s 3B power channel for a future IROSA installation. NASA will provide more information on the date and time of the spacewalk, the crew members assigned to the activity, and coverage details closer to the operation.
The spacewalks will be the 278th and 279th supporting space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades. They also are the first two station spacewalks of 2026 and the first for Expedition 74. Spacewalks 94 and 95 originally were scheduled for January, but the target dates were adjusted after the early departure of NASA’s SpaceX Crew‑11 mission.
Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
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Josh Finch / Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov