SpaceX Crew-13 Launches to the ISS: What the Mission Will Do and Why It Slipped

By The SpaceInfo Club Space Engineer, founder of SpaceInfo Club

October 1, 2026 6 min read

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Image Credits: NASA

SpaceX’s Crew-13 mission is set to launch today, October 1, 2026, at 11:10 a.m. EDT (15:10 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Four astronauts will fly aboard the Crew Dragon Grace on their way to the International Space Station, where they are scheduled to spend around six months. The launch comes roughly three weeks later than originally planned. Here’s what Crew-13 will accomplish, how the mission is expected to proceed, and what led to the delay.

Today’s timeline

Times shown in EDT and UTC.

9:20 a.m. EDT (13:20 UTC): NASA’s launch coverage begins
11:10 a.m. EDT (15:10 UTC): liftoff on a Falcon 9 from SLC-40
5:20 p.m. EDT (21:20 UTC): arrival coverage begins
~7:00 p.m. EDT (23:00 UTC): targeted docking at the forward port of the station’s Harmony module

NASA plans a trip of about 7 hours and 50 minutes from launch to docking, which would be the fastest ever flown by a U.S. spacecraft to the station. If the launch is called off, the next opportunity is Friday, 2 October. The Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron put the odds of favourable weather at 60%, with cumulus clouds and flight through precipitation as the main concerns.

Crew-13 marks NASA’s 13th operational crew rotation mission under the Commercial Crew Program:

Jessica Watkins (NASA): Commander. She previously flew on Crew-4 in 2022 and is set to become the first NASA astronaut to fly aboard a Crew Dragon twice.
Luke Delaney (NASA): Pilot, making his first trip to space.
Joshua Kutryk (CSA): Mission specialist and the first Canadian astronaut to launch as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. He was initially assigned to Boeing’s Starliner-1 mission before joining Crew-13.
Sergey Teteryatnikov (Roscosmos): Mission specialist, also making his spaceflight debut.

A separate article will take a closer look at each member of the Crew-13 team.

We will profile the crew in a separate article.

What Crew-13 is actually there to do

Crew rotation is the headline job: the crew relieves the Crew-12 astronauts, who have been on board since February, and keeps the station fully staffed. Crew-12 can only head home once Crew-13 has arrived and the two crews have completed their handover, which is why this launch date mattered beyond Crew-13 itself.

Beyond that, the six-month expedition is built around research and station upkeep:

Human health for deep space. NASA has lined up Human Research Program studies tied to Artemis and future Mars missions, including a joint NASA–ESA study on blood flow and clotting (Venous Haemostasis), the Standard Measures programme of crew health and behaviour data, and exercise research.
Biomedical and materials research. The ISS National Lab lists projects ranging from neural organoids for studying neuroinflammation and Parkinson’s-related conditions, to cardiac tissue models with blood vessels, to organoids made from colorectal cancer cells for testing chemotherapy drugs. Physical-science work includes how alloys melt and flow in microgravity, which matters for in-orbit repair and assembly, and how bacterial films form on droplets.
Student experiments. The Genes in Space programme brings student-designed DNA experiments to orbit.
Operations and maintenance. The crew will also handle cargo work and lab maintenance, and used the extra weeks on the ground to train further, including for possible spacewalks.

In all, NASA and its partners describe hundreds of investigations that the crew will support over the stay.

Why Crew-13 was delayed

Crew-13 was originally scheduled to launch on 12 September. However, on 29 August, NASA announced that the mission would be delayed after teams detected an oxidizer leak in the Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system during routine prelaunch processing.

The propulsion system is critical to Dragon’s operation. Its Draco thrusters use a fuel and an oxidizer that ignite when they come into contact, providing the spacecraft with the thrust needed for orbital manoeuvres. Because the system plays an important role in crew safety, NASA and SpaceX carried out additional testing and corrective work on the hardware before proceeding with the crewed launch.

The sequence of events, as reported by NASA and others:

29 August: NASA announces the postponement. No new date is set while joint NASA–SpaceX teams run additional tests and data review.
Mid-September: NASA reports that the team replaced an oxidizer valve in Dragon’s propulsion system and targets early October.
17 September: the crew enters final quarantine as the schedule settles on October.
22 September: NASA and SpaceX set 1 October as the earliest launch opportunity.
27–29 September: Falcon 9 and Dragon roll out to the pad; teams run an integrated static fire and a dry dress rehearsal.

Kutryk described the leak as a “very small, minor signature” and said SpaceX also swapped some components. Watkins told reporters the problem was found on the ground with time to fix it. No issue with the Falcon 9 itself was reported as part of the delay.

The slip also had a knock-on effect on the station. Because the outgoing Crew-12 cannot leave before the handover, their stay in orbit stretched to nearly eight months.

Why this launch matters

Crews launching to the International Space Station may seem routine by now, but Crew-13 is a reminder that every mission still depends on careful preparation. A small leak detected during ground processing pushed the launch back by three weeks, allowing NASA and SpaceX to identify the issue, carry out the necessary work and verify the spacecraft before the astronauts boarded.

Frequently asked questions

When does Crew-13 launch?

Thursday, 1 October 2026, at 11:10 a.m. EDT (15:10 UTC), with a backup opportunity on 2 October.

When does Crew-13 dock with the ISS?

About 7:00 p.m. EDT (23:00 UTC) on launch day, at the forward port of the Harmony module, after a planned flight of roughly 7 hours 50 minutes.

Why was Crew-13 delayed?

Engineers found an oxidizer leak in Dragon’s propulsion system during prelaunch processing. SpaceX replaced an oxidizer valve and NASA cleared the new schedule after further review.