International Space Station flight engineer Yury Lonchakov (L) is seen with members of the Space Shuttle Discovery crew during hatch opening ceremonies aboard the station in this image from NASA TV March 17, 2009. The Discovery astronauts are (L-R) Joseph Acaba, Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Pilot Tony Antonelli, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold, John Phillips and Shuttle Commander Lee Archambault. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Two astronauts from Discovery's crew performed the first spacewalks Thursday and successfully installed the International Space Station's fourth and final set of solar array wings. Astronauts unfurled the solar wings Friday, bringing the 10-year-old space station to full power, which is critical for boosting science research and allowing the crew to double to six.

The space station's six solar wings already are in place. The new ones bring the number to eight, with four on each side.

Each solar array wing has two 115-foot-long (35 meters) arrays, for a total wing span of 240 feet (73 meters), including the equipment that connects the two wings and allows them to twist as they track the sun. Altogether, the station's arrays can generate as much as 120 kilowatts of usable electricity -- enough to provide about forty-two 2,800-square-foot (260 square meters) homes with power.

One more spacewalk is planned next Monday during Discovery's mission.

Discovery was launched into space last Sunday night. During its stay with the station, three spacewalks will be conducted by astronauts. If all goes well, it is scheduled to undock from the station on March 25, towards a planned March 27 landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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