CANADA ̛S NEWEST ASTRONAUTS RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS ASSIGNMENTS

Two more of the Society’s highflying Fellows are one step closer to heading into space! Congratulations to Canada’s two newest astronauts, who both received exciting assignments this past November.

Joshua Kutryk is scheduled to travel to the International Space Station in 2025 on a six-month mission, while Jenni Gibbons has been named to the backup crew for the 10-day Artemis II mission, currently scheduled to orbit the moon in late 2025 aboard NASA’S new Orion spacecraft. Fellow Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen is already part of that mission, meaning if he can’t make the trip, Gibbons will fly in his place.

Kutryk, a trained engineer, has been working for the past few years on the Starliner, a Boeing-built spacecraft designed to transport crew to the space station. His mission to the space station will be the Starliner’s first.

Gibbons, who is both Canada’s youngest astronaut and its only active female astronaut, was thrilled with her assignment. “For me, it’s a privilege to be support for astronaut Jeremy Hansen for the lunar mission,” Gibbons said in the wake of the announcement. “[Canada is] the only international partner assigned to the most critically important mission NASA has planned in over 50 years — human space flight’s return to the moon.”

Kutryk and Gibbons both joined the Canadian Space Agency in 2017 and completed their astronaut candidate training in 2020.

Attendees of the Society’s most recent Geographica Dinner, held last November at the Canadian War Museum, had the opportunity to hear Gibbons speak in person. She wowed the audience with photos and insights from the specialized geology training NASA and Canadian Space Agency astronauts have been doing in northern Labrador with guidance from planetary geologist and Society Fellow Gordon Osinski. She also explained why lunar and space exploration matters: “We are doing this for the Earth,” Gibbons said. “We need Earth observation; we need to understand the processes that are changing our Earth, like climate change.”