Retired Yukon teacher in Florida to see former student Joshua Kutryk launch into space
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk holds up his fingers to make the number 13 to mark his launch as part of Crew 13 launch to the International Space Station. Kutryk and three other astronauts are set to launch on Oct. 1. (SpaceX)Social SharingWhen Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk leaves Earth later this week to journey to the International Space Station, one of his former teachers from the Yukon will have a front-row seat.
"To be invited to go and be in close proximity to the launch, everyone here says that's a pretty special thing to have a chance to go and see," said Ted Hupé on Monday morning from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Kutryk will be riding on SpaceX's Crew Dragon to the International Space Station, where he'll be living and working for roughly six months.
Hupé, now retired, was Kutryk's Grade 6 teacher at Christ the King Elementary School in Whitehorse, and he and his wife received a special invitation to go watch the launch on Thursday. The invite came in recognition of the impact Hupé had on his former student, decades ago.
Kutryk was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., and lived in Whitehorse for five years as a child.
Speaking to CBC News in 2017, when he was chosen by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in its recruitment program, Kutryk described how he had been inspired as a young man by Hupé's world travels, including treks in Nepal, and cycling trips in New Zealand and India.
"To me as a Grade 6 child, that was one of the things that ignited this exploratory sense, the explorer within me, that has really been there for the whole ride," Kutryk said.
"He [Hupé] left a life-lasting impact."
Hupé calls that sort of appreciation "humbling."
'Josh was one of those kids who wanted to excel in everything that he did,' said retired Yukon teacher Ted Hupé, seen here in June. (Elyn Jones/CBC)"Like, I had no idea that the stories I told and the interactions that I had with Josh and his particular class would have a lasting impact.
"You just have no idea some of the things you say or do will leave that lasting impression — so you've got to be careful!" Hupé said with a laugh.
He remembers Kutryk as a "pretty studious kid," quiet, serious — and extremely competitive.
"He was just a great kid," Hupé said. "Josh was one of those kids who wanted to excel in everything that he did."
Hupé and his wife have a lot on their agenda this week in Florida. They'll tour the Kennedy Space Centre, and on Tuesday they'll get to see and wave to Kutryk and the other quarantined astronauts, "at a distance that allows us not to infect them with a cold or the flu or anything."
Then, they'll be there for the launch on Thursday morning, and afterwards attend a reception hosted by the Canadian Space Agency.
The Crew 13 launch, as it's called, will also include NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, Luke Delaney and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
The four members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station display their mission plaque inside a training mockup of a space station module. From left are, Commander Jessica Watkins and pilot Luke Delaney, both from NASA, and mission specialists Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency and Sergey Teteryatnikov of Roscosmos. (Morgan Gridley/NASA)The crew will join several astronauts who are already on station and will conduct several experiments, some of which are Canadian.
Hupé says seeing his former student "literally reach for the stars" is incredible.
"As a longtime teacher, you always want your kids to do well," he said. "I'm just humbled to think that something I did actually made a difference."
Paul Tukker is a writer and reporter with CBC News in Whitehorse. Before moving to Yukon in 2014, he worked with CBC in Sudbury and Iqaluit. You can reach him at paul.tukker@cbc.ca.
