From a facility near Montreal, Canada announced on November 22, 2023 that astronaut Joshua Kutryk will spend six months aboard the International Space Station beginning no earlier than 2025, joining a lineage of only three Canadians who have undertaken such long-duration missions before him. Simultaneously, his fellow 2017 selectee Jenni Gibbons was named backup for the Artemis II lunar mission, positioning Canada at two distinct frontiers of human spaceflight at once. These assignments speak to something enduring in the human impulse to reach outward — and to the quiet years of preparation th
Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk assigned to ISS mission launching in 2025
The fourth Canadian to undertake a long-duration stay in orbit
Mark
So Kutryk is going to the space station. How significant is that for Canada?
Mimi
It's a big deal. He'll be the fourth Canadian to do a long-duration mission there. That's not a huge number, but it shows continuity. Canada has been part of the ISS program for decades, and this keeps that commitment alive.
Luke
Right, but let's be clear—the ISS is well-established. This isn't a first or a breakthrough. It's important work, but it's routine in the sense that the station has been continuously crewed since 2000.
Mark
And Gibbons is backup for the moon mission. That sounds more dramatic.
Mimi
It is. Artemis II is the crewed lunar mission—the first in fifty years. If Hansen can't fly, she goes. That's historic potential.
Luke
But she's backup. We don't know if she'll actually go. Hansen is healthy and scheduled to fly. Gibbons is insurance.
Mark
Still, being selected as backup for a lunar mission—that's recognition, right?
Mimi
Absolutely. It means the space agencies believe she's ready for the most demanding mission humans are planning right now. That's a vote of confidence.
Luke
True. And it's worth noting these two were selected together in 2017. They've been waiting six years for assignments like this. The wait is over.
Mark
So Canada has four active astronauts total. Is that enough?
Mimi
It's a small corps, but it's what Canada maintains. The other two, Saint-Jacques and Hansen, were selected in 2009. So you've got experience and fresh blood.
Luke
The source doesn't say whether Canada is planning to recruit more. That's an open question.
Il Polso
- Canada is placing its next generation of astronauts on two of the most consequential missions in its space history simultaneously.
- Kutryk's six-month ISS posting demands half a year of isolation, scientific rigor, and physical endurance in low Earth orbit.
- Gibbons stands one unforeseen circumstance away from circling the moon — a role that could make her part of humanity's first lunar return in decades.
- Both astronauts have been waiting since their 2017 selection for exactly this moment, and the assignments confirm the long game space agencies play.
- Canada's four-person astronaut corps is now fully engaged across orbital and lunar frontiers, with no margin for delay or disruption.
From a facility near Montreal, Canada announced on November 22, 2023 that astronaut Joshua Kutryk will spend six months aboard the International Space Station beginning no earlier than 2025, joining a lineage of only three Canadians who have undertaken such long-duration missions before him. Simultaneously, his fellow 2017 selectee Jenni Gibbons was named backup for the Artemis II lunar mission, positioning Canada at two distinct frontiers of human spaceflight at once. These assignments speak to something enduring in the human impulse to reach outward — and to the quiet years of preparation that make such reaching possible.
On November 22, 2023, Canada's federal minister of innovation announced from Canadian Space Agency headquarters near Montreal that astronaut Joshua Kutryk had been assigned to a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station, with launch targeted for no earlier than early 2025. When he flies, Kutryk will become only the fourth Canadian to complete a long-duration stay on the station — a distinction previously held by astronauts including David Saint-Jacques, who spent more than six months in orbit in 2018 and 2019.
Canada's astronaut corps currently numbers four: the 2009 cohort of Saint-Jacques and Jeremy Hansen, and the 2017 cohort of Kutryk and Jenni Gibbons. It is that younger pair now stepping into the foreground. While Kutryk prepares for his orbital posting, Gibbons has been named backup for the Artemis II mission — a flight designed to send four astronauts around the moon as early as November 2024. Should Hansen, the primary Canadian crew member, be unable to fly, Gibbons would take his place on one of the most historically significant missions since the Apollo era.
Taken together, the two assignments reveal how space agencies think in long arcs. One Canadian may spend half a year conducting science in low Earth orbit while another potentially circles the moon — both outcomes the product of a six-year wait since their selection, and both expressions of a country quietly sustaining its place in the human story of spaceflight.
Joshua Kutryk is going to space. The Canadian astronaut has been assigned to a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station, with launch scheduled for no earlier than the start of 2025. The announcement came on November 22, 2023, from François-Philippe Champagne, the federal minister of innovation, science and industry, speaking from Canadian Space Agency headquarters near Montreal.
Kutryk will join a small and select group. He will become the fourth Canadian astronaut to undertake a long-duration stay on the station—a mission that typically means half a year in orbit, conducting experiments, maintaining equipment, and advancing the scientific work that keeps the ISS operational. The other three who have done this before him include David Saint-Jacques, who spent more than six months aboard in 2018 and 2019.
Canada currently has four active astronauts. Saint-Jacques and Jeremy Hansen, both recruited in 2009, represent the older cohort. Kutryk and Jenni Gibbons, selected together in 2017, are the junior members of the corps. That 2017 class was tasked with carrying forward Canada's presence in human spaceflight at a moment when the country needed fresh talent for the missions ahead.
Gibbons, meanwhile, has been named as backup for the Artemis II mission—a lunar flight that will send four astronauts around the moon as early as November 2024. She will step in if Jeremy Hansen, who is slated as the primary Canadian crew member, becomes unable to fly. Artemis II represents a historic return to lunar exploration after decades away, and Gibbons' role as backup means she could yet become part of that journey.
The timing of these assignments reflects how space agencies plan years in advance. Kutryk's ISS mission, launching in 2025, and Gibbons' potential role on Artemis II, which could fly months earlier, show Canada hedging its bets across multiple frontiers of space exploration. One astronaut will spend half a year in low Earth orbit conducting science. The other might circle the moon. Both represent the next generation of Canadian space travelers, and both were waiting for this moment since their selection six years prior.
Citazioni salienti
Announcement made by François-Philippe Champagne, federal minister of innovation, science and industry, at Canadian Space Agency headquarters near Montreal— Canadian Space Agency
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