CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Astronaut Josh Kutryk reached space today aboard SpaceX, marking the beginning of the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) fourth long-duration mission — the first such one in eight years.
Kutryk launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Florida’s Space Coast at 11:10 a.m. EDT along with the rest of Crew-13: NASA’s Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, and Roscosmos’ Sergey Teteryatnikov.
Assuming docking goes as planned later tonight (no earlier than 7 p.m.), Kutryk — on his first spaceflight — will be the first CSA astronaut to reach the orbiting complex since David Saint-Jacques’ 204-day mission began in December 2018. (The previous long-term space missions by CSA were with Robert Thirsk in 2009, and Chris Hadfield in 2012-13; Canadian NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel also did a long-term ISS mission in 2018.)
With today’s launch, Kutryk — an RCAF test pilot by training — is also the first CSA astronaut and second Canadian overall to fly on SpaceX Crew Dragon, following entrepreneur Mark Pathy’s 17-day flight with Axiom Space Ax-1 to the ISS in 2022. Kutryk was reassigned to Dragon and Crew-13 earlier this year after a previous planned flight opportunity with Boeing Starliner was delayed indefinitely from 2024 due to technical issues.
It has been officially more than nine years since Kutryk began his space journey with CSA (as he was selected in July 2017). But the public part of Kutryk’s space journey is more like 17 years, as he made it to the final four of the previous CSA astronaut selection in 2009 and did not make the cut; the agency then selected Saint-Jacques and Jeremy Hansen, who ultimately flew around the moon earlier this year with Artemis 2 on his own first mission.
“I never thought that I would have this opportunity to go out on behalf of Canada and do a mission like this,” Kutryk told Canadian reporters Sept. 24 during a video press conference from quarantine in Houston. “I dreamed a bit. I always dreamed of it, and thought it would be the most wonderful experience. But I always viewed it as impossibly hard, something you’d have to be very lucky for.”
“I think it’s important for people to hear that and to recognize that I never thought it would happen, but still tried to make decisions in my life where I could—that would get me a little bit closer,” Kutryk added to reporters, speaking generally of his space journey. He noted he not only kept space at the forefront of his career goals prior to CSA, but also pursued “science, engineering, exploring, being operational. These are things that motivated me to do this job, of course, but they also motivated me to do everything else.”
Kutryk added that he hopes today’s launch is a bright spot among otherwise difficult headlines in the news, and that the good news makes it to younger audiences. “There’s a lot of chaos. There’s a lot of challenge, no doubt everywhere, and Canada’s right in the middle of some of that. But for me, when I step into this suit, and I get to see what we’re doing in space with all these countries — the United States, Canada, Russia, and so many others in between — it separates me from all the bad headlines, and it shows me what we can do, what the future can be, and will be if we have young people, Canadians, who grow up like I did wanting to do this kind of stuff.”
He added not only does he see space as the key to a “prosperous future” for Canada, but it also signifies a venue by which “countries are working together, not fighting. One where we’re looking after the world, not ruining it. That’s the path, and space helps us to do that, but we need people to do it. We need our young Canadians to do it, and I hope they see that when they watch this launch.”
CSA’s next astronaut launch is not yet announced, but it is possible another astronaut could launch in time for the projected 2030 end date of ISS operations given normal flight rotation rates put an agency astronaut on board about every six years. (Kutryk’s slot, as mentioned earlier, was delayed from 2024; the CSA said during a press conference at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in August that the status of the 2030 rotation has not been decided upon.)
Aside from Kutryk, the CSA has two other active astronauts: Saint-Jacques, as well as Kutryk’s classmate Jenni Gibbons — the latter serving as chief capcom to Artemis III launching in 2027 to test moon-docking spacecraft in Earth orbit.
CSA’s original Artemis agreement with NASA, prior to the U.S. agency pivoting away from Gateway to Moon Base, suggested there would be at least two opportunities for CSA astronauts to fly on moon missions based on contributing Canadarm3 to Gateway. NASA, CSA and other Artemis partners are continuing discussions about next steps with Artemis and Moon Base, with CSA saying it is ready to support the consortium as newer ideas take shape.