Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk launches to ISS next week

Six months after Jeremy Hansen orbited the moon, another Canadian astronaut is heading to space—though Joshua Kutryk will travel a much shorter distance and stay far longer. On October 1, he launches aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon bound for the International Space Station, where he'll spend roughly half a year living and working in orbit.

Kutryk, born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, is an engineer and test pilot who has logged more than 4,000 hours flying over 40 different aircraft types. The Canadian Space Agency selected him in 2017 alongside Jenni Gibbons as part of a recruitment drive. His path to launch has not been straightforward. He was originally scheduled to fly on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, but the spacecraft encountered significant technical problems that pushed back its crewed debut. SpaceX's Crew Dragon became his ride instead. Even that timeline shifted—the launch was moved from September 12 to October 1 after an issue with the vehicle itself. During a press call on Wednesday, Kutryk said he remains confident the spacecraft is ready.

When asked what he most anticipated, Kutryk's answer was disarmingly simple: looking out the window. "The six-year-old kid and me, all the way up to the 44-year-old astronaut, husband, every version of a human I've been in between, the thing that I want to do the most is go to the biggest window I can find and just stare at Earth," he said. He acknowledged that dreaming of this moment and actually achieving it felt impossibly distant for most of his life. "I never, ever, ever, ever thought that I would have this opportunity to go out on behalf of Canada and do a mission like this," he said.

He is packing carefully for the journey. Kutryk is bringing Canadian flags and items from various Canadian organizations, universities, and public agencies he has worked with. But the most personally significant cargo is a pocket watch that belonged to his family. The watch, likely built in the early 1900s, traveled from Ukraine to Canada when his family immigrated. It has already preceded him to the station aboard an earlier supply mission. "It's just this really important personal memento, but also a really neat metaphor for how much the world can change because of how we explore," he said.

The Crew 13 mission includes NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, along with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteriatnikov. Both Delaney and Teteriatnikov are flying to space for the first time. The crew will join astronauts already aboard the station and conduct several experiments, including Canadian-led research. Kutryk framed the mission as a counterpoint to the divisions visible on Earth. "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," he said. "For me, when I step into a 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."