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3w ago

SpaceX Launches Crew‑13 on Record‑Fast Run to the ISS

The successful Oct. 1 launch cleared a preflight oxidizer leak, used a reusable Falcon 9 booster, placing a U.S., Canadian and Russian crew on a roughly six‑month science rotation.

Astronauts, from left, Joshua Kutryk, of Canada, pilot Luke Delaney, commander Jessica Watkins and Cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, of Russia leave the Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, of Russia, greets family and friends as he leaves the Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Astronauts, from left, Joshua Kutryk, of Canada, pilot Luke Delaney, commander Jessica Watkins and Cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, of Russia leave the Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Commander Jessica Watkins greets family and friends as she leaves the Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

Overview

  • The Falcon 9 lifted off Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, from Cape Canaveral carrying commander Jessica Watkins, pilot Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
  • Dragon is on a roughly 7‑hour, 50‑minute rendezvous and is scheduled to dock the same day, which NASA and SpaceX called the fastest U.S. launch‑to‑docking profile to the station.
  • The flight followed weeks of troubleshooting after an oxidizer leak was found in Dragon’s propulsion system in August, with teams also resolving GPS and rocket motor microcontroller issues before clearing the vehicle for launch.
  • Crew‑13 will spend about six months aboard the ISS performing human‑health research that includes producing stem‑cell‑derived tissues, studying blood‑flow and clotting, testing a new inflight diagnostic device, and operating a mostly autonomous plant‑growth system.
  • The mission is the 13th operational long‑duration NASA crew flight on SpaceX hardware, underscores routine commercial crew rotations and booster reuse, and represents a notable year for Canada with Kutryk as the first CSA long‑duration astronaut on a commercial‑crew flight.