MONTREAL — Four Canadian-designed studies are set to be conducted aboard the International Space Station, soon to be hosting Albertan astronaut Joshua Kutryk.

The studies will examine such things as astronauts’ mental health and how their bodies adapt to microgravity and cope with space anemia — a decrease in red blood cells.

Kutryk, 43, of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., took part in an online briefing today organized by the Canadian Space Agency.

He is preparing for a six-to-eight-month stay aboard the space station, but the launch date has not been scheduled yet.

Kutryk is to travel to the station aboard Boeing’s Starliner-1 in what will be the spacecraft’s first mission.

Researchers at the Canadian Space Agency told the briefing they have to get the studies done quickly because time is

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