09/27/2026
Best wishes and have a great fight! https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122204542358798586&set=a.122199949688798586
🇨🇦 A Canadian is going to space, and the countdown is on
Meet Joshua Kutryk. Born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot. Test pilot. Engineer. Veteran of combat missions over Libya and Afghanistan. More than 4,200 hours in the air across over 40 types of aircraft.
And in a few days, he'll be riding a rocket to the International Space Station. 🚀
Joshua is part of NASA's SpaceX Crew-13, targeted to launch Thursday, October 1 at 11:10 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral, Florida. If all goes to plan, the crew will dock with the Station that same evening.
Here's why this one is special for Canada:
⭐ It's Joshua's first mission to space
⭐ It's only the fourth long-duration Canadian Space Agency mission to the Station
⭐ It's the first time a Canadian Space Agency astronaut flies as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program
He'll spend about six months aboard the Station, running science experiments, carrying out maintenance and repairs, and helping prepare for future deep-space missions.
This mission almost looked very different. Joshua was first assigned in 2023 to fly on Boeing's Starliner, but after years of delays, he's now heading up on a SpaceX Dragon instead. After nearly a decade of training since he was selected as an astronaut in 2017, his moment has finally arrived.
The crew landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center today and are now in final preparations before liftoff.
From the skies over Cold Lake to orbit about 400 km above Earth. That's a Canadian story worth celebrating. 🇨🇦
