Get to know Canada's robotics operators

Uploaded on November 6, 2026

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Get to know Canada's robotics operators

Learn more about the role of Canadian robotics operators during the spacewalks of October 29, and November 5, 2026, conducted by Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and NASA astronaut Anil Menon.  (Credits: Canadian Space Agency, NASA)

DYLAN: 

My role for the spacewalks is to design the procedure for the execution of installing the solar arrays on the International Space Station. 

It involves getting the astronaut on to the arm, moving them to the payload to retrieve it, and then moving them to where we're going to install it.

TYLER: 

My job will be monitoring the health of Canadarm and making sure that if we have problems, I can work around it and get that moving again. 

DYLAN: 

Our job is (...) probably about 50% planning the operations, 45% training for them, and then only 5% of actually executing. 

TYLER: 

The most complex aspect is thinking through all of the things that need to happen in a very short amount of time. These spacewalks are planned as 6.5 hours, and there's a lot to do.  

DYLAN: 

We run the procedure in a virtual reality environment. 

to be in the astronauts’ perspective.

After that, we bring them to the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, 

a gigantic swimming pool in Houston, with a scale model of the ISS at the bottom of it. This allows us to put the astronauts in the pool in their spacesuits, and actually run through the procedure as if it was on orbit. 

Finally, as a flight control team, we all get together and we simulate the procedure as if it were the day of. 

The thing I'm most looking forward to before a spacewalk is actually the moment when the astronauts get safely back inside the airlock. 

TYLER :

parce que ça peut paraître surprenant, mais c’est ce qu’on fait de plus dangereux.

DYLAN :

C'est vraiment très stressant de se retrouver dans une situation où son travail peut avoir des conséquences fatales. C'est pourquoi j'ai hâte de terminer cette opération, de la réaliser à la perfection et de les ramener sains et saufs à l'intérieur.

TYLER :

Je fais aussi tout mon possible tous les jours pour que les Canadiens soient fiers de notre participation au programme de la Station spatiale internationale. On fait des choses géniales dans l'espace.

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