Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk prepares for six-month mission to space station
The Fort Saskatchewan-born engineer and pilot will launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon on Oct. 1 after a delay from the original September date.
Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk will launch to the International Space Station for a six-month mission on Oct. 1, riding aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
"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," Kutryk said during a press call on Wednesday.
He was originally scheduled to launch on Sept. 12, but the mission was delayed due to an issue with the spacecraft.
Kutryk, a 44-year-old engineer, fighter pilot and test pilot from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., was chosen by the Canadian Space Agency in 2017.
He was initially supposed to launch on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, but was reassigned to SpaceX after Boeing's program faced setbacks.
"I dreamt of it. I always dreamt of it and thought it would be the most wonderful experience, but I always viewed it as impossibly hard," Kutryk said.
He said he has faith the Crew Dragon vehicle is ready to fly.
The mission, designated Crew 13, will also include NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteriatnikov.
It will be the first space mission for Delaney and Teteriatnikov.
Kutryk said he is bringing many items from Canadian organizations and universities, along with Canadian flags.
One item of particular importance is an old pocket watch that travelled from Ukraine to Canada with his family when they immigrated.
The watch has already been to the station, having gone up on an earlier supply launch.
"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," Kutryk said. "I plan to keep it pretty close during those six months."
When asked what he is most looking forward to, Kutryk said it is 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.
The crew will join astronauts already on the station and will conduct several experiments, some of which are Canadian.
Kutryk said the mission illustrates how united the world can be despite unrest on Earth.
"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," he said.
The mission follows Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen's historic flight around the moon six months ago.
With files from CBC News