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Beauvallon Man on a Mission
Beauvallon Man on a Mission
Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser
Allen Sayler sat on Two Hills County council for 23 years. On Oct. 23 he appeared before members of council to pitch the idea of having Colonel Joshua Kutryk, Canadian astronaut and former Beauvallon area resident formally recognized for his outstanding accomplishments.
Sayler, who also resides in the Beauvallon area, said he was recently having breakfast with his son Mark when Mark came up with the idea. Sayler appeared before Two Hills town council the previous day and said they were interested in setting up a committee.
Reeve Murray Phillips thanked Sayler for bringing forward the request, and there are many possible ways to recognize Kutryk. Sayler also provided information that had been compiled by Joshua’s mother Kathy Kutryk.
Although Joshua Kutryk was born in Fort Saskatchewan, he attended elementary school in Fort Saskatchewan, Elk Point and Whitehorse before moving back to the Kutryk homestead with his family for Grade 9 and went to high school in Two Hills before attending the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario where he earned a mechanical engineering degree.
Kutryk’s mother Kathy wrote that Joshua is currently employed with the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Space Agency as a test pilot, fighter pilot and engineer. “He also has his masters in space studies, maters in flight test engineering and masters in defence studies. He has over 4,000 hours of flying experience on more than 40 different aircraft. He was chosen as an astronaut in July 2017 out of more than 5,000 applicants. He moved to Houston, and started training at NASA.”
She described some of his recent training and that he has learned to fly Boeing’s new Starliner which will take astronauts up and back to the International Space Station. “The Starliner will be another spacecraft that NASA can use as well as Elon Musk’s Crew Dragon….He was scheduled to go to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Starliner in the coming spring of 2025. However, that has been put back until they rectify the problems.”
Kutryk pointed out that more experiments need to be conducted before the mission will proceed. While initially disappointed, Joshua will have a mission to the ISS. She added that, “Joshua would be more than happy to help promote the County of Two Hills in any way he can. It is his home and he might just return to it one of these days. It’s definitely his “happy place” when he gets the rare opportunity to come home.”
Sayler said he plans to make a presentation to St. Paul Board of Education trustees in the future. The next board meeting is scheduled for Nov. 13.
