Fort Saskatchewan astronaut Joshua Kutryk docks at International Space Station after record-fast launch

Fort Saskatchewan native Joshua Kutryk has docked at the International Space Station as part of a historic Canadian Space Agency mission.

Kutryk and his crewmates — NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov — launched from Florida on October 1 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of Crew-13. The spacecraft docked with the ISS at approximately 7:05 p.m. ET, marking a new SpaceX record: 7 hours and 55 minutes from launch to docking.

After docking, the crew spent about two hours equalizing pressure between the Dragon and the Station, removing their spacesuits, and performing a leak check. The hatch opened at 9:19 p.m. ET, and the crew officially joined Expedition 75, beginning their long-duration mission in orbit.

A Royal Canadian Air Force colonel and test pilot, Kutryk was selected by the Canadian Space Agency in 2017 and has trained for this exact mission for roughly four years. "It feels really good," he said in an earlier interview with The Record. "I've been training for this exact mission for about four years now so there is a lot of excitement to go out and do it."

Kutryk emphasized the pride of representing Canada in space. "I also feel a profound sense of pride to be able to do this as a Canadian astronaut," he said. "If you compare it to the size of our country and our GDP we have remarkably successful human space flight program. Maybe unparalleled almost in the world, so it makes me happy to be doing it with a Canadian flag on my shoulder."

This marks the fourth long-duration space mission for a Canadian Space Agency astronaut. Kutryk grew up on a cattle farm in Fort Saskatchewan before pursuing his career in aviation and space exploration.