CAPE CANAVERAL: As soon as Wednesday, Nasa is poised to make history — sending the first woman, the first person of color, and the first non-American on a voyage around the Moon.

Canadian Jeremy Hansen is among the four-person crew, what astronaut and fellow countryman Joshua Kutryk called “a very big deal.” Wearing a traditional royal-blue flight suit, Kutryk — who is currently training for his own mission to the International Space Station — made the trip to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center to cheer on his colleague, who could take off as early as April 1.

In an interview, Kutryk discusses the significance of this new chapter of American space exploration.

He said his journey is the first — not just the first Canadian lunar mission — it’s the first mission in the world that isn’t purely a US crew. So, it’s a very big deal in Canada. I feel very excited, very proud.

Jeremy is a great friend and a great astr­onaut and a great ambassador to Canada, and I’m just excited to see him go do this. It’s not a coincidence that Canada was inv­ited to participate in this mission. It’s bec­a­­use of what we’ve done in Canada that is valued by Nasa, and that’s something that makes me excited, but even more so proud to be from Canada right now.

Canada has been partnered with the United States throughout most of human space exploration. We started back with the Space Shuttle Program. We had astronauts flying in the 80s... We helped to construct the space station. We designed and built the suite of robotic systems that still operates a space station, even as you and I speak today. Particularly with Artemis though, we were the first country to join the United States in this vision of going back to the Moon.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2026