NASA and SpaceX have set an Oct. 1 launch date for the Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station, lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The flight carries four astronauts on a six-month scientific mission focused on advanced stem cell research, crop production, and medical testing.
Preparations at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station reached a critical milestone when teams rolled out the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the launch pad. Ground crews raised the hardware to a vertical position and completed an integrated static fire test of the launch vehicle following data reviews by operations teams.
The flight faces an opening launch window no earlier than 11:10 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 1, according to NASA schedules. The mission marks the 13th crew rotation flight handled by SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
The Four-Member Crew and Spaceflight Experience
The international crew brings a mix of veteran and first-time flyers to orbit. NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins commands the flight, joined by pilot Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov serving as mission specialists.
Watkins makes history on this flight as the first NASA astronaut to launch twice aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. She previously logged 170 days in space during Expeditions 67 and 68 on Crew-4. The spacecraft carrying them, named Grace, previously flew in the summer of 2025 during the private Axiom Mission 4.
For Kutryk, the assignment represents the culmination of a nearly two-decade journey that began when the Royal Canadian Air Force test pilot was selected as one of Canada’s 2017 astronaut candidates. He becomes the second Canadian Space Agency astronaut in orbit this year, following Jeremy Hansen’s lunar flyby on Artemis II in April, and the first Canadian to reach the space station since David Saint-Jacques in 2018-19.
Scientific Objectives Aboard the Orbiting Laboratory
Once the quartet joins the Expedition 75 crew aboard the space station, they will spend roughly six months conducting experiments aimed at preparing for deep-space exploration and improving medical treatments on Earth. Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program at the Johnson Space Center, outlined the core medical investigations in a public statement.
Weigel also noted that the crew will test new diagnostic medical equipment for monitoring astronaut health, study blood flow abnormalities unique to microgravity, and explore agricultural crop production vital for sustained human missions to the Moon and Mars.
Pre-Launch Delays and Orbital Handover Logistics
Getting the mission to the pad required clearing technical hurdles earlier in the month. The flight was originally scheduled to lift off on Sept. 12 before an oxidizer leak inside the Dragon propulsion system forced engineers to push the target date into October.
Ahead of the arrival, ground teams are preparing a Falcon 9 booster on its third flight. Once the Crew-13 vehicle docks at the station, it will trigger a brief handover period allowing NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission to wrap up its stay and return to Earth.
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