Canada's next space explorer now has a mission – and a ride. On Thursday, the Canadian Space Agency announced that Joshua Kutryk is slated to travel to the International Space Station later this year, launching no earlier than mid-September. The 44-year-old astronaut, who is also a colonel with the Royal Canadian Airforce, joins the station's Expedition 75 crew together with NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, for a six-month stint in orbit.
A sense of déjà vu
The announcement comes with a sense of déjà vu, because Col. Kutryk was already assigned to an ISS mission in late 2023 and was originally to have flown to the station aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft sometime last year. However, a series of failures occurred during the first crewed test flight of Starliner in June, 2024. Ultimately, two U.S. astronauts were left on board the station as a precautionary measure while the spacecraft returned to Earth empty. The stranded astronauts ended up spending nine months in space instead of their scheduled eight days. The episode left Starliner grounded, and Col. Kutryk, who trained on the spacecraft, in limbo – until now.
Revised assignment
Under his revised assignment, he is now set to travel to the station as part of Crew-13 on a SpaceX Dragon capsule, launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During his six-month stay, Col. Kutryk is expected to take part in a number of scientific studies, including those led by researchers in Canada, that are designed to take advantage of the microgravity environment aboard the station to investigate physical changes relevant to aging and disease.
A banner year for Canada in space
Thursday's announcement continues what has been a banner year for Canada in space, following Jeremy Hansen's historic flight around the moon earlier this month as part of the Artemis II mission. The last time two Canadians were in space during the same year was in 2009. In July of that year, Robert Thirsk was in the middle of a long-duration mission aboard the space station and Julie Payette stopped by for a visit as part of the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour. The two Canadian flights this year come after an eight-year gap with no Canadians in space – one of the longest in the agency's history.
Background
Col. Kutryk was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., where he grew up on a cattle farm. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and master's degrees in space studies, flight test engineering and defence studies. He has served as a CF-18 fighter pilot, test pilot and instructor. In June, 2017, Col. Kutryk was recruited by the Canadian Space Agency along with Jenni Gibbons, who later became Jeremy Hansen's backup on the Artemis II lunar mission.
