A stopwatch from the 1800s will orbit the planet
On September 12, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk will ascend from Kennedy Space Center aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, carrying a century-old stopwatch and the aspirations of a nation into six months of orbit. His journey — from the Alberta skies of Fort Saskatchewan to the International Space Station — is both a personal culmination and a quiet testament to what sustained human effort, guided by curiosity, can achieve. In an age of fragmented attention, Kutryk's mission reminds us that some endeavors still require years of patient preparation before a single extraordinary moment arrives.
- After nearly a decade of relentless training since being selected by the Canadian Space Agency in 2017, Kutryk stands days away from the launch that will define his career.
- The mission demands double duty: keeping humanity's most complex machine operational while conducting medical and health research that only microgravity can make possible.
- Kutryk carries a family heirloom stopwatch from the 1800s — a deliberate act of meaning-making that bridges Ukrainian immigrant roots in Alberta to an orbit where time itself bends.
- Canada's role in international space exploration hangs in the balance of missions like this one, with Kutryk serving as both scientist and symbol of the country's ambitions beyond the atmosphere.
- His message to young people is urgent and personal: passion without intention fades, but paired with persistence and institutional support, it can carry someone from a prairie town to the stars.
Joshua Kutryk has spent his life looking up, and on September 12 he will finally leave the ground. The Canadian astronaut from Fort Saskatchewan spoke recently from Houston about the strange emotional clarity that arrives when years of preparation collapse into a single launch date. Hired by the Canadian Space Agency in 2017, he has trained relentlessly — and now that chapter is nearly complete.
The launch will lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Kutryk and three crewmates into orbit. Their work divides into two essential tasks: maintaining the International Space Station — which Kutryk describes with reverence as perhaps the most intricate machine humanity has ever built — and conducting scientific research in medicine and health that only the absence of gravity makes possible.
When Kutryk speaks about what this means for Canada, the pride he expresses is quiet and rooted rather than boastful. He sees space exploration as something that transcends borders, a demonstration of what humans can accomplish in collaboration. Among his personal belongings for the mission is a family heirloom stopwatch, passed down since his ancestors immigrated from Ukraine to Alberta in the late 1800s. That small instrument — once used to measure ordinary seconds on Earth — will now orbit a planet where time behaves by different rules.
Kutryk's message to young people is direct: find your passion early, pursue it with intention, and recognize that the journey from dreaming to doing requires both personal discipline and the support of others. His own path from a small Alberta city to the ISS was not inevitable — it was built through choice, persistence, and the investment of institutions willing to believe in him. The mission, in that sense, belongs to more than one person.
Joshua Kutryk has spent his life looking up. Now, on September 12, he will leave the ground for six months aboard the International Space Station, carrying with him a stopwatch from the 1800s and the weight of a dream that began somewhere in the Alberta sky.
The Canadian astronaut, originally from Fort Saskatchewan, spoke recently from training headquarters in Houston about the mission ahead. He described the feeling as a strange blend of excitement and gratitude—the kind of emotional clarity that comes after years of work finally crystallize into a single date on a calendar. Kutryk was hired by the Canadian Space Agency in 2017. Since then, the preparation has been relentless. Now it is almost over.
The launch will happen from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will carry Kutryk and three other crew members into orbit. Once there, they will take on two broad responsibilities: keeping the station itself operational and maintained—a task Kutryk described with obvious respect, calling it perhaps the most intricate machine humanity has ever built—and conducting scientific research that cannot be done on Earth. Much of that work focuses on medicine and health, areas where the absence of gravity opens doors that laboratories on the ground cannot.
When asked about what this means for Canada, Kutryk spoke of pride. Not the boastful kind, but something quieter and more rooted. He talked about his country's role on the world stage, about how space exploration can unite people across borders and remind them of what humans are capable of when they work together. There is something in that sentiment that reaches beyond the technical specifications of the mission—it touches on why we send people into space at all.
Before launch, Kutryk will pack carefully. Among his belongings will be a family heirloom: a stopwatch passed down through generations since his ancestors immigrated from Ukraine to Alberta in the late 1800s. He sees it as a symbol, a physical reminder of how far his family has traveled and how much technology has advanced in the span of a few generations. A stopwatch that once measured seconds on Earth will now orbit the planet, marking time in a place where time itself behaves differently.
Kutryk has a message for young people watching from below. He encourages them to find their passion early, to pursue it with intention, and to understand that the path from dreaming to doing requires both personal dedication and the support of others. His own journey proves the point. It was not inevitable that a kid from Fort Saskatchewan would end up in space. It required choice, persistence, and a willingness to work harder than most. But it was also made possible by institutions, by mentors, by the Canadian Space Agency's decision to invest in him.
The mission represents more than one person's achievement. It is a statement about Canada's commitment to space exploration and scientific advancement. It is a demonstration that the work of reaching beyond our atmosphere continues, that there are still frontiers to explore and questions to answer. And it is a reminder that the people who go to space are not so different from the rest of us—they simply decided to aim higher.
Citações Notáveis
I've dreamt of going to space my whole life. I feel a lot of Canadian pride in being part of the mission.— Joshua Kutryk
It's a very complex machine—maybe the most complicated machine humans have ever made.— Joshua Kutryk, describing the International Space Station
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
What does it feel like to know the exact date you're leaving the planet?
There's a strange clarity to it. You've trained for years, and suddenly it's not abstract anymore. September 12 is real. It's on the calendar. You can almost feel it.
You're bringing a stopwatch from the 1800s. Why that object specifically?
It's my family's story compressed into one thing. My ancestors carried it when they left Ukraine for Alberta. Now I'm carrying it to space. It's a way of saying: look how far we've come. Look what's possible.
The station is described as the most complicated machine ever built. Does that intimidate you?
It should. But you don't think about it that way once you're there. You think about the specific system you're responsible for, the experiment you're running. You break the complexity into manageable pieces.
What's the research actually for? Why does medicine need zero gravity?
Some things only reveal themselves without gravity. How cells behave, how disease progresses—Earth's pull masks those processes. Up there, you see the truth of it.
You mentioned Canadian pride. Is that pressure or inspiration?
Both. But mostly inspiration. You're representing something larger than yourself. That's not a burden if you choose to see it as an honor.
What do you want young people to understand from your story?
That passion isn't enough by itself. But if you find what you care about early and you commit to it completely, the path opens. You just have to be willing to walk it.