Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk’s first thought after being told Thursday he had made it to space was one of disbelief.
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he → tell → disbelief
“I don’t really believe it yet,” Kutryk said after being told the crew was in orbit, about 10 minutes after blasting off from Florida as part of the NASA SpaceX Crew 13 mission to the International Space Station.
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crew → believe → Station
“It does feel weird, though.”
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It → feel → ?
The 44-year-old is a mission specialist on the four-person crew, which also includes commander Jessica Watkins and pilot Luke Delaney — both of NASA — and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, another mission specialist.
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which → include → NASA
NASA says the Crew 13 mission had the fastest flight ever to the International Space Station, taking just under eight hours to reach the facility.
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mission → say → facility
After another two hours or so of docking procedures, Kutryk and his crewmates emerged from a hatch and were greeted with hugs and handshakes from the seven people aboard the station.
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Kutryk → emerge → station
Speaking during a brief welcome ceremony, Kutryk expressed disbelief at finally being on the space station and said it’s great to have Canada represented there again.
“Looking forward to a good mission after some sleep.
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Canada → speak → sleep
That’s what I’m going to go do next,” he said on the NASA broadcast.
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he → ’ → broadcast
The crew is to spend six months at the station conducting experiments, doing research and taking part in critical maintenance work.
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crew → spend → work
Kutryk also faces a unique situation during his months-long deployment off Earth — his wife is set to give birth to their third child.
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wife → face → child
The space station is a long way from the Alberta cattle farm where Kutryk grew up.
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Kutryk → grow → farm
Before the launch, Kutryk said the crew members felt like “some of the luckiest people on Earth.”
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members → say → Earth
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Industry Minister Mélanie Joly watched the launch from the ground.
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Joly → get → ground
It was the first she had ever attended.
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she → attend → ?
“It was absolutely fantastic,” Joly said with a smile at the Kennedy Space Center.
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Joly → say → Center
“It’s a very humbling experience as well because ultimately we’re very, very small humans in an extremely vast universe.”
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we → ’ → universe
Joly said the launch offered an important symbol of international co-operation during “tense geopolitical times.”
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launch → say → times
“When it comes to space, I think this is a place where we can collaborate and co-operate,” she said.
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she → come → space
“That’s what we’ve done.”
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we → ’ → what
Collaboration on space innovation has continued despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and continued threats of annexation.
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Collaboration → continue → annexation
Joly has been on the front lines of Trump’s trade war with Canada, first as foreign minister and now in her current portfolio, where she’s tasked with mitigating many of the tariffs’ effects.
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she → task → effects
She met with NASA administrator Jared Isaacman for about 30 minutes Thursday.
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She → meet → minutes
She said they spoke about how the Canadian Space Agency can contribute to exploration, particularly of the moon and Mars.
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Agency → say → moon
Here’s what you’ll see in the sky
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you → ’ → sky
- Anthropic and OpenAI sound the alarm on AI safety – and seek to shape how it’s controlled
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it → sound → safety
OpenAI says its models engaged with US government websites in new model misbehavior disclosure
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models → say → disclosure
China and the US agree to set up a new AI safety channel, and to keep talking on trade, military
Joly said she always talks about the importance of ending the trade war when she meets members of the Trump administration and other American politicians.
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she → agree → administration
At a post-launch news conference, Isaacman said he has fruitful discussions with Canada, particularly on a future lunar base.
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he → say → base
Pointing to the well-known Canadarm and its followup Dextre, Isaacman said Canada’s robotics expertise would play an important role in achieving America’s lofty ambitions in space.
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expertise → point → space
“We are going to be counting on it as part of the architecture,” he said.
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he → go → architecture
Kutryk’s mission adds to a memorable year for Canadian space exploration and research.
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mission → add → exploration
The 10-day lunar fly-around saw Hansen and his crewmates travel farther from the surface of the Earth than anyone before them.
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Hansen → see → them
Mathieu Caron, director of astronauts, life sciences and space medicine at the Canadian Space Agency, told Thursday’s news conference that for the first time in his three-decade-long career, his children think he’s cool.
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he → tell → career
“Across Canada, we really see a renewed enthusiasm for human space exploration,” Caron said.
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Caron → see → exploration
Joly said Canada was looking to push its space capabilities further by diversifying space partnerships and working more closely with the European and Japanese space industries, as well as other middle-power countries.
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Canada → say → industries
But Ottawa wants to do things faster and with more ambition, she added.
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she → want → ambition
Joly said Canada’s defence industrial plan recognizes the importance of the space sector and new funds have been dedicated to the Canadian Space Agency.
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funds → say → Agency
She said Canada must embrace the industrial part of space investment to create domestic jobs while also doubling down on science and civilian research.
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Canada → say → science
A new president for the Canadian Space Agency is to be named in the coming weeks, Joly said.
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Joly → name → weeks
A new space strategy would also be unveiled in the coming months, which will promote Canada’s goals of creating opportunities, playing a larger role in the sector and sending more astronauts off Earth, she added.
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she → unveil → Earth
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
