Calgary’s Telus Spark Science Centre is hosting a live viewing of Canadian astronaut Col. Joshua Kutryk’s launch to the International Space Station on Thursday. The launch will be projected on the giant screen inside the science centre’s Infinity Dome theatre. Kutryk, a member of the Canadian Space Agency, was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., and raised on a cattle farm east of Vegreville. He’s participating in NASA and SpaceX’s Crew-13 mission with NASA’s Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. The team is expected to spend six months aboard the ISS, marking the first long-duration Canadian mission to the station since David Saint-Jacques returned in June 2019. Thursday’s launch is scheduled for 9:10 a.m., but both the launch date and time are subject to change due to technical factors and weather. After arriving aboard the orbiting laboratory, Crew-13 members will get a rundown of operations from Crew-12 members currently on board. Then, if conditions are favourable, Crew-12 astronauts will board the SpaceX spacecraft and head for a splashdown off the coast of California. If you’re interested in watching Kutryk’s live launch at Telus Spark, doors open at 8:45 a.m. For more information, you can visit the Telus Spark website.
