Before venturing into space, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk was in Calgary on Sunday to speak about his upcoming involvement in the Crew-13 mission. Born in Fort Saskatchewan, Kutryk grew up on a cattle farm near Vegreville, which he credits for sparking his love for outer space.
Calgary Events
Kutryk stopped by the TELUS Spark Science Centre, where he answered questions from young people about his upcoming expedition. On Monday, he will be at the University of Calgary for a lecture and Q&A, discussing his journey as an astronaut and the mission ahead.
Early Inspirations
Reflecting on his childhood, Kutryk said, “I think I definitely did spend a lot of time alone at night looking at the night sky, and so that might have had something to do with it.” His rural upbringing on a cattle farm near Vegreville played a key role in fostering his passion for space exploration.
Crew-13 Mission Details
In September, NASA’s SpaceX operation will send a crew to the International Space Station via a Falcon 9 rocket inside a Crew Dragon capsule from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crew-13 marks the third launch of the commercial crew program to the space station. Four astronauts will be on board: Kutryk, two from the United States, and one from Russia.
Mission Responsibilities
Over the following six months, Kutryk explained their job will be twofold. “The first is we take responsibility for the space station, operating it, maintaining it, fixing it in all its capacities, and that’s a pretty challenging task. That’s why we’ve been training for so many years to do it, but the second part of the job is the science.”
In the orbiting laboratory, he will conduct a variety of scientific inquiries on behalf of researchers from Canada and around the world. These experiments can only be performed in space and may address challenges in medical care, aging, and cancer treatment.
Personal Reflections
Despite the busy schedule, Kutryk intends to savor every moment, as this has been a lifelong dream. “The thing I’m probably looking forward to the most would be the most simple of them all, and that is just the first look out the window and seeing Earth. Not as the Earth that we all know it, but as just its one, own little thing. A blue ball hanging in space.” For his downtime, the only item from Earth he plans to bring on his maiden voyage is a Kindle, as he loves to read.
Inspiring Younger Canadians
Following his outreach trip in Calgary, Kutryk will return to NASA Mission Control in Houston for the final phases of training before going into quarantine in August. After his journey, he hopes to share his stories from space to inspire the next generation of Canadians.
Between the Artemis II flyby last month and the upcoming mission in September, it has been a busy year for the agency’s human spaceflight program. Kutryk noted that fellow Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen’s participation in the flyby was especially unique, as Canada is now the only other country alongside the United States to send humans farther and faster than anyone has ever gone in history.
