CROKEN, Paul Trainor

The funeral for Paul Croken was held on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 from the Hennessey Cutcliffe Charlottetown Funeral Home to St. Joseph’s Church, Kelly’s Cross where the funeral mass was celebrated by Reverend Ashook Veerabathina who also delivered the homily. The first reading was proclaimed by Kari Croken and the second reading was proclaimed by Marina Cheverie. The prayers of intercession were offered by Elly Cash. The funeral mass was sung by St. Joseph’s Parish Choir. They rendered the entrance hymn, Come Back to Me, the psalm, The Lord’s My Shepherd, the offertory hymn, In the Garden, the communion hymn, See Us Lord About Your Altar and the recessional hymn How Great Thou Art. The pallbearers were Kati Croken, Greg Davidson, Douglas Doiron, Winston Cheverie, Chris Marshall and Leo Trainor. The interment took place in St. Joseph’s Parish Cemetery.

For Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques, it’s all about preparation as he continues his training four months before he blasts off into space.

Saint-Jacques, 48, is currently in Moscow along with U.S. astronaut Anne McClain and Russian Oleg Kononenko, who will join him on board a Soyuz aircraft when it launches for the International Space Station from Kazakhstan on Dec. 20.

“The goal is to get to the day of the launch with a clear mind and the confidence you have full possession of your faculties,” he said in an in-person interview with The Canadian Press on Thursday.

“I like the mountain analogy. Right now, I’m climbing Everest. If you ask a climber who is two-thirds up Everest if he is excited about soon getting to the top... no. He is concentrated. He doesn’t want to trip up, doesn’t want to get caught in his rope.”

The Quebec native, who will become the ninth Canadian to travel to space, will serve as a copilot for the Soyuz capsule and, because of his medical training, will be the crew’s doctor on board the station during the six-month stay.

Saint-Jacques is expecting stiff challenges during gruelling training tests Friday.

“At the beginning, you don’t know what to do...but finally you get better and at the end you survive almost everything they throw at you, and you’re ready,” he said.

An astronaut since 2009, SaintJacques was named to the mission in 2016.

Trained as both an engineer and a doctor, Saint-Jacques will be the first Canadian aboard the space station since Chris Hadfield spent five months on it in 2012 and 2013.

McClain, who also will be flying into space for the first time, said she is happy to be doing so with her Canadian teammate.