{"id":635688,"date":"2026-04-29T05:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/635688\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T05:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:11:14","slug":"canadian-astronaut-joshua-kutryk-set-for-6-months-on-the-international-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/635688\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk set for 6 months on the International Space Station"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tDescrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tIncrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk says he feels a mix of excitement and gratitude as he prepares for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Speaking with Global News Morning Edmonton from training in Houston, Kutryk said the opportunity follows years of preparation after being hired by the Canadian Space Agency in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve dreamt of going to space my whole life,\u201d he said, adding he feels \u201ca lot of Canadian pride\u201d in being part of the mission.<\/p>\n<p>Kutryk said the launch is set for September from Florida and will include four crew members travelling to the space station for what is known as a long-duration stay.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Fort Saskatchewan-born astronaut heading to the International Space Station'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NASA_ISS_JOSHUA_KUTRYK_VMS.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"   data-\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t8:57<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFort Saskatchewan-born astronaut heading to the International Space Station\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>He said the team will have two main responsibilities: operating and maintaining the station, and conducting scientific research.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a very complex machine\u2026 maybe the most complicated machine humans have ever made,\u201d he said, noting experiments conducted in orbit often focus on areas such as medicine and health that cannot be replicated on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767930311_275_national.jpg\" alt=\"Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won't miss a trending story.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n<p>Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won&#8217;t miss a trending story.<\/p>\n<p>Originally from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., Kutryk said his journey to space involved \u201ca lot of hard work\u201d as well as support from others, encouraging young people to pursue their passions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s never too early to find what your passion is,\u201d he said, recalling his own early interest in space and aviation.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on Canada<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Kutryk also reflected on the broader impact of space exploration, saying it can help bring people together and highlight Canada\u2019s role on the world stage.<\/p>\n<p>He is scheduled to launch Sept. 12 from the Kennedy Space Center aboard a Falcon 9 rocket built by SpaceX.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the mission, Kutryk said he plans to bring several personal and symbolic items, including a family heirloom \u2014 a stopwatch from the late 1800s passed down through generations after his family immigrated from Ukraine to Alberta.<\/p>\n<p>He said the item serves as a reminder of how far his family, and technology, has come.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Edmonton students write letters to astronaut Jeremy Hansen'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6P_ASTRONAUT_LETTERS.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"   data-\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:40<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEdmonton students write letters to astronaut Jeremy Hansen\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Descrease article font size Increase article font size Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk says he feels a mix of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,9693,66],"class_list":["post-635688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-international-space-station","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}