Astronaut Joshua Kutryk speaks to sold-out crowd at Calgary’s Telus Spark

Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk will be here to tell us when he will be heading to live and work on the International Space Station

A member of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) landed at Calgary’s Telus Spark Science Centre on Monday for a feature talk on the future of space travel.

Born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., and raised on a cattle farm east of Vegreville, Col. Joshua Kutryk is one of four active CSA astronauts.

He’s currently assigned to NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission, which will see him live and work on the International Space Station for six months.

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“We’re here to talk about space, talk about the mission and talk about a bright future in outer space for Canada,” he told CTV News.

“If you’re young and you want to work in space – as an engineer, scientist, astronaut, whatever it is – the future has never been brighter in this country as it is right now, so your timing is really, really good.”

Kutryk says he always loves coming back to Alberta.

“As a young kid, I always remember, my entire life, being fascinated with exploring and science,” he said. “I think that, in the back of my head, I always had this goal of being an astronaut. I considered it to be very unrealistic and unlikely, but I always had it.”

He says the important thing is for youth to “find their passion, something that they can use as their beacon to follow their entire life.”

Kutryk will be the first Canadian astronaut to fly as part of NASA’s commercial crew program.

He began his career as a CF-18 fighter pilot with 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron, where he flew missions in support of NATO, the UN and NORAD as well as being stationed in Libya and Afghanistan.