Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk to join mission to International Space Station

Another Canadian astronaut will be heading to the International Space Station. 

Joshua Kutryk has been assigned to a six-month mission that will launch no earlier than the beginning of 2025.

Terms and conditions for when an astronaut is assigned to a mission.https://t.co/ml4JVVk3La
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Modalités de gestion des pages d’un astronaute quand il est affecté à une mission.https://t.co/q7VECQzrDu

— Joshua Kutryk (@Astro_Kutryk) November 22, 2023

François-Philippe Champagne, federal minister of innovation, science and industry, made the announcement today at the Canadian Space Agency headquarters, near Montreal

Canada has been making strides to be a global leader in the aerospace sector. Our world-class @csa_asc astronauts train day in and day out to represent us, across the globe, and beyond.

Today, I was proud to announce the following missions: pic.twitter.com/9xnXVbh2fd

— François-Philippe Champagne (FPC) 🇨🇦 (@FP_Champagne) November 22, 2023

As well, Champagne says Jenni Gibbons has been assigned as the backup astronaut for the historic Artemis II mission to the Moon.

There are four active Canadian astronauts, with the most junior pair — Gibbons and Kutryk — selected in 2017.

The other two are David Saint-Jacques and Jeremy Hansen, both of whom joined the astronaut corps in 2009. 

Saint-Jacques spent more than six months aboard the International Space Station in 2018 and 2019, and Kutryk will become the fourth Canadian astronaut to serve a long-duration mission on the station.

Gibbons will replace Hansen if ever he's unable to take part in the Artemis II mission, which will send a crew of four into space as early as November 2024 for a flight around the moon.