Josh Kutryk’s long-awaited reassignment is finally revealed. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut will fly to the International Space Station no earlier than September, with a seat aboard SpaceX Crew-13, the agency announced late Thursday (April 23).
Kutryk, speaking exclusively with SpaceQ early on Friday (April 24) said the new ISS mission is a tribute to decades of contributions by Canada, highlighted just weeks ago with the April 1 to 10 mission of CSA’s Jeremy Hansen and his Artemis II crew around the moon.
And the timing is apt in another way, he said – he noted Canada’s recent emphasis on “launch capability and investment in space”, and while he did not name it specifically, days ago the government announced the Canadian Space Launch Act in an effort to smooth sovereign launch.
“None of this is a coincidence: Flying on Artemis. Flying on this mission,” Kutryk said. “It’s because of the Canadian engineers, innovators, scientists who have contributed so much that NASA is essentially rewarding us for that. That’s something that is important to me, because it has facilitated this mission I’m about to go on and do – but it’s important to Canada, because we take a lot of economic benefit from it. I want people to realize that, and see the importance in keeping it going.”
In November 2023 Kutryk was first assigned to Boeing Starliner-1, the first operational mission of the spacecraft then set for 2024. Two years later, Starliner-1 continues to face delays. Kutryk said he was likely reassigned to SpaceX Crew-13 as a mission specialist because Canada had run out of time with regard to its ISS partnership assignment.
“We have a mandate to steward the Canadian space program, and part of that is flying our missions,” Kutryk said. “We just got to a point where we had to go fly this mission. I mean, if launching now in the fall of ‘26, it puts us roughly to a little over two years behind, from a ISS partnership perspective. So, yeah, as much as I enjoyed my time with Starliner and believe in the vehicle, we have to go fly this Canadian mission.”
He added he has been working closely with the other Crew-13 members for roughly 12 to 18 months, depending on the person: NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. That duration is typical for long-duration crews.
Canada’s contributions and Kutryk’s mission expectations
CSA receives ISS astronaut seats and science based on its 2.3% of contributions to the international agreement, which mainly comprise the ISS robotics Canadarm2, Dextre and the Mobile Servicing System. Based on current flight rates, the nominal pace is every six years.
It has been nearly eight years, however, since a CSA astronaut launched to the ISS. The previous flight opportunities for Canadians in the post-shuttle era were David Saint-Jacques in 2018-19, and Chris Hadfield in 2012-13. (This calculation is only regarding CSA astronauts, and does not include Canadians who flew to space by different professional pathways.)
As is always true of CSA missions, Kutryk will also participate in a selection of Canadian experiments – largely focused on health. The NASA-led ISS partnership does not finalize science experiments until much closer to the launch date, but Kutryk noted most of his time these days is spent on consolidating the Canadian investigations: “defining the science that we’ll do in this increment, and then learning to do it.”
The CSA has a list showing all of its active, currently funded ISS experiments. Kutryk said that generally, he expects seven or eight CSA experiments to run during his mission (a typical increment will have on the order of 200 to 250 including all international partners.) Some of the Canadian science possibilities include:
- CARDIOBREATH – cardiorespiratory system “deconditioning” and how that affects blood pressure – led by Andrew Blaber of Simon Fraser University.
- The long-running Vascular series, looking at microgravity’s effects on hearts and blood vessels – led by Richard Hughson, of the Schlegel-University of Waterloo Research Institute for Aging.
- Investigations on isokinetic science, and cancer science.
Kutryk is also planning on continuing partnerships with several organizations, including:
- Le Grand défi Pierre Lavoie, which promotes healthy living and active lifestyles. Kutryk has already participated in at least one charity bike ride with the organization.
- La Tablée des Chefs, an organization focused on young people’s health and addressing food scarcity. Kutryk has worked with the group on items like competitions.
NASA is currently finalizing the schedule for Crew-13’s expeditions (Expedition 75-76), including what astronauts will be performing what activities. “It’s space, and it’s complicated, and it’s international, and it’s NASA-driven,” Kutryk said of the complexities of the discussion, highlighting both the operational nature of space activities and Canada’s emphasis on proceeding in partnership.
But Kutryk noted his increment does expect “many vehicles, arriving and departing” – which will include berthing with Canadarm2, an activity other Canadians have done before. “There will also certainly be EVAs,” at least how things stand, which also has ample CSA precedence.
Nearly a decade with CSA
Kutryk and his colleague, Artemis 2 backup Jenni Gibbons, were both selected as astronaut candidates in July 2017, so it will be at least nine years afterwards when Kutryk flies to space. Kutryk, 44, also reached the final four in the previous 2008-09 astronaut selection that saw Saint-Jacques and Hansen selected. (Jameel Janjua, now a space-flown Royal Canadian Air Force or RCAF pilot with Virgin Galactic, rounded out the 2008-09 finalist list.)
Kutryk was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta and today is a test pilot, fighter pilot, engineer, and colonel with RCAF. He also has multiple degrees in engineering, space studies and defence studies.
While NASA does not publicly release selection factors for spaceflights, Kutryk was likely initially selected to Starliner-1 because of his extensive test pilot experience. He has more than 4,000 hours of flying experience on more than 40 aircraft types, as well as considerable test flight and instructional experience on the CF-18.
Kutryk will be the first Canadian astronaut to fly on a commercial crew vehicle, and one of the select few CSA astronauts to launch in the same calendar year as another CSA astronaut (Hansen, in this case). Kutryk added he was pleased that Artemis 2, after accomplishing “a lot technically”, went “beyond all expectations [and] got people excited about space all over the world, especially in places like Canada.”
With Kutryk’s ISS mission, he said the program’s hope is to continue momentum. “We have a very strong space program, but it isn’t as big as the U.S, one, as you know. So we tend to go through troughs – through long periods of time without human astronaut missions, and then we go through moments of excitement where we’re doing a lot.”
Starliner will help with SpaceX
Kutryk’s Starliner-1 assignment put him alongside two NASA astronauts: commander Scott D. Tingle, and Mike Fincke. His former colleagues have long since been reassigned. Tingle is now chief of the NASA astronaut office, and Fincke flew on board SpaceX Crew-11 last year.
The reassignments occurred after Crew Flight Test (CFT), a developmental Starliner mission by NASA astronauts and military test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in 2024-25. Kutryk played a big ground role on that mission, he said. “I was a test-pilot subject for them. I did a lot of flying of that vehicle in the sim. I was, obviously, on the flight controller team for CFT. For me – the test pilot, Josh – that was just dreams coming through every day.”
But for reasons outside of the astronauts’ control, an investigation recently reclassified CFT as either as a Type A incident or a high-visibility close call, both of which are serious human spaceflight incidents. You can read more about why in this SpaceQ report from February, but very simply put, long-standing thruster issues on the spacecraft will require more redesigning.
Kutryk, citing years working on Starliner’s development on the ground, added that Starliner “is a really-designed vehicle, and I think you’re going to see it flying, probably soon, and doing some great things.” Starliner, he added, also has a strategic capability of giving the United States a second alternative to reach the ISS on top of SpaceX, which he said is important. Kutryk said his time on Starliner already gavce him familiarity with commercial crew operations from launch to flight readiness. He added Crew-13 is nearly a second spaceflight for him, as they did everything but. “Me and the [Starliner-1] crew, we did everything but get in and launch. And now we’ve [Crew-13] done everything – and we’re hopefully going to launch.”