NASA schedules three August spacewalks to upgrade the International Space Station

NASA has scheduled three U.S. spacewalks during August 2026 to upgrade the International Space Station, including work on the station’s solar arrays, communications equipment and power and data connections.

The agency identified Aug. 6 as the first date in the campaign and said the planned work will support ongoing station operations and research. NASA has not reported that the Aug. 6 activity or any of the planned tasks has been completed.

What NASA plans to do

The campaign is designed around several maintenance and upgrade tasks aboard the orbiting laboratory. One objective is to upgrade the station’s solar arrays, which are part of the system that supplies power for station operations.

Another planned task is the replacement of a communications antenna. NASA also plans to connect power and data cables for station operations. Together, the assignments concern systems used to keep the station operating and to support its research work.

NASA described the activities as three U.S. spacewalks in August. The agency’s announcement does not provide final crew assignments or a complete task-by-task account of what each spacewalk will cover.

Timeline for the campaign

NASA announced the campaign on July 27 and scheduled a preview news conference for July 30 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The preview was intended to provide information before the August activities begin.

Aug. 6 is the first specifically identified spacewalk date in the agency advisory. The source material does not identify dates for the other two spacewalks.

Spacewalk schedules can be subject to mission updates, but NASA’s advisory establishes the campaign as a planned August operation rather than a completed result. Further agency updates will be needed to confirm when each activity occurs and whether its assigned work is finished.

Why the work matters

The International Space Station depends on interconnected power, communications and data systems. Planned upgrades to those systems can affect the station’s ability to continue normal operations and support research, although NASA’s announcement does not quantify any expected change in power capacity, communications performance or research output.

The solar-array work is therefore an orbital maintenance and upgrade effort, not a newly announced scientific discovery. The antenna replacement addresses communications equipment, while the cable connections are intended to support station power and data functions.

That makes the campaign relevant beyond the astronauts conducting the spacewalks. The work is tied to the continued operation of a research platform used for ongoing investigations in orbit. The approved NASA material does not specify individual experiments, researchers or expected scientific findings from the campaign.

What happens next

NASA’s next identified public step was the July 30 preview news conference at Johnson Space Center. After that briefing, mission updates are expected to provide the latest information on crew assignments, timing and the status of each task.

For now, the confirmed development is NASA’s plan to conduct three U.S. spacewalks during August 2026, beginning with the identified Aug. 6 date. The agency has announced the intended work, but completion, final crew details and the outcomes of the individual activities remain to be established by later NASA mission updates.