NASA, SpaceX target October for Crew-13 launch from Florida to ISS
(April 30, 2026) --- The SpaceX Crew-13 members pose for a portrait in their pressure suits during a preflight training session at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, California. From left are, Roscosmos Sergey Teteryatnikov, NASA astronauts Jes
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - NASA has set a new date for Crew-13's flight to the International Space Station after the original launch was delayed.
The space agency is now targeting Oct. 1 for the launch.
Crew-13 will lift off at 11:10 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in a SpaceX Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
The crew is expected to arrive at the ISS about 9 hours after liftoff.
Dragon leak delays launch
The Crew-13 mission launch was originally set for early September.
But NASA and SpaceX delayed the launch after an oxidizer leak on the Dragon's propulsion system was detected during prelaunch.
In a social media post on Sept. 16, NASA and SpaceX said the leak had been fixed.
"The team successfully replaced an oxidizer valve in Dragon's propulsion system after a leak was detected earlier in processing," the post read.
Who is Crew-13?
The four-person crew consists of NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canada Space Agency's Josh Kutryk and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
Watkins and Delaney will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, while Kutryk and Teteryatnikov will serve as mission specialists.
The crew is currently in quarantine at Johnson Space Center in Houston. They will travel to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, according to NASA.
Members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 pose for a portrait next to the Dragon spacecraft mockup after completing a preflight training session at SpaceX’s facility in Hawthorne, California. (Credit: SpaceX)
Why is Crew-13 going to the ISS?
While at the space station, Crew-13 will perform different scientific experiments to help prepare humans for future exploration missing to the Moon and Mars.
They will live and work on the ISS for about seven months.
Crew-13 will take over for Crew-12. The four-person crew—consisting of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency's Sophie Adenot and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev—have been living on the space station since February.
The Source: This article was written based on information released by NASA and SpaceX.