Another Canadian astronaut will head to the International Space Station, with Joshua Kutryk assigned to a six-month mission not to be launched before early 2025.

This was announced by François-Philippe Champagne, the federal minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, today at the Canadian Space Agency headquarters near Montreal.

Also, Champagne said that Jenny Gibbons was appointed as a backup astronaut for the historic Artemis II mission to the Moon.

There are four active Canadian astronauts, with the younger duo – Gibbons and Kutryk – having been selected in 2017.

The other two are David Saint-Jacques and Jeremy Hansen, both of whom joined the astronaut corps in 2009.

Saint-Jacques spent more than six months aboard the International Space Station in 2018 and 2019, and Kutryk will become the fourth Canadian astronaut to undertake a long-duration mission on the station.

Gibbons will replace Hansen if he is unable to participate in the Artemis II mission, which will send a crew of four to space as early as November 2024 to make a journey around the Moon.