Plate Nº 80 · recorded October 10, 2026
Space & AstronomyReported finding
NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 Set for Oct. 1 Launch to Space Station
NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 is targeting 11:10 a.m. EDT on Oct. 1 for liftoff from Cape Canaveral. The four-person crew includes Jessica Watkins, Luke Delaney, Joshua Kutryk, and Sergey Teteryatnikov.
By Marcus Bennett4 min read734 words
In brief
- Launch is set for no earlier than 11:10 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 1, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
- Crew-13 is NASA's 13th commercial crew rotation with SpaceX and the second flight of the Dragon capsule Grace, which previously supported Axiom Mission 4 in summer 2025.
- Commander Jessica Watkins becomes the first NASA astronaut to launch twice aboard a SpaceX Dragon, after spending 170 days in space on the 2022 Crew-4 mission.
- The crew will join Expedition 75's seven existing members; Crew-12 will return to Earth after a short handover.
- Research priorities include stem-cell-derived tissue studies for heart disease and Parkinson's treatment, in-orbit crop production, and new crew health diagnostic equipment.
Four astronauts — three first-time flyers and a returning space station veteran — will lift off no earlier than 11:10 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 1, aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule named Grace, beginning NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins will command the flight, with fellow NASA astronaut Luke Delaney serving as pilot. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov round out the crew as mission specialists. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will carry them into orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, then accelerate Dragon to roughly 17,500 mph before docking at the station's forward-facing Harmony module port.
The flight marks NASA's 13th crew rotation through its Commercial Crew Program and SpaceX's partnership with the agency. Grace itself has already logged time in orbit — the capsule previously flew in the summer of 2025 supporting the private Axiom Mission 4.
What science will Crew-13 do?
Dana Weigel, manager of NASA's Low Earth Orbit Program at Johnson Space Center in Houston, framed the research goals in direct terms:
"During the mission, the crew will help researchers treat heart disease and Parkinson's disease by studying human stem-cell derived tissues that can help improve medicine, disease modeling, and pharmaceutical testing."
Weigel added that the astronauts will explore crop production for longer-duration spaceflight, study blood-flow abnormalities seen in space, and test new diagnostic medical equipment for monitoring crew health. These experiments feed NASA's broader push to gather data for eventual Moon and Mars missions through the Artemis program.
The crew will also welcome two uncrewed cargo deliveries later this year:
- NASA's SpaceX 35th commercial resupply mission, carrying new ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays
- Northrop Grumman's Commercial Resupply Services-25 flight
Who is flying?
Watkins, a geologist from Lafayette, Colorado, is making her second trip to the orbital laboratory. She earned her doctorate from UCLA and worked on the Curiosity rover science team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory before joining the astronaut corps in 2017. Her first flight — NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 in 2022 — totaled 170 days in space. With Crew-13, she becomes the first NASA astronaut to launch twice aboard a SpaceX Dragon.
Delaney, a Florida native selected as an astronaut in 2021, will make his first spaceflight. He served as a naval aviator in operations throughout the Asia-Pacific region and in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, later working as a research pilot at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
Kutryk, a former CF-18 fighter pilot from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, is also on his first spaceflight. He joined the Canadian astronaut corps in 2017 after a career as an experimental test pilot and holds degrees from the Royal Military College of Canada and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School.
Teteryatnikov will round out the crew on his first mission to orbit. He graduated from Russia's Naval Academy in St. Petersburg in 2011, worked on submarine engineering projects, and joined the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center in 2021, serving as a test cosmonaut since 2023.
What happens when they arrive?
After Dragon docks, the four will join the seven-member Expedition 75 crew already aboard the station:
- NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Anil Menon, and Jack Hathaway
- ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot
- Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev, and Anna Kikina
Following a short handover, Meir, Hathaway, Adenot, and Fedyaev — NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 — will undock and return to Earth in their own Dragon capsule.
How ready is the rocket?
Support teams continue working through Dragon's preflight milestones while preparing a Falcon 9 booster for its third flight. Once checkouts finish and components receive certification, teams will mate Dragon to the booster inside SpaceX's hangar at the launch site. The fully integrated stack will then roll to the pad, where it will be raised vertically for a crew dry dress rehearsal and an integrated static-fire test before launch.
Dragon is designed to dock autonomously with the station, though the crew can take manual control if needed. Continuous human presence aboard the ISS stretches back more than 25 years, and Crew-13 will extend that streak as NASA builds the experience base for Artemis lunar missions and eventual crewed trips to Mars.
via asc-csa.gc.ca (Original)