The NASA and SpaceX Crew-13 mission is scheduled to launch on October 1, 2026, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. They will spend six months aboard the International Space Station.
The mission utilizes the Crew Dragon capsule named Grace, which is flying its second mission. The launch was previously delayed from September 12 due to an oxidizer leak discovered in the spacecraft's propulsion system during prelaunch processing. The vehicle uses monomethyl hydrazine as fuel and nitrogen tetroxide as an oxidizer.
The flight is expected to set a record for the shortest time between launch and docking, with an estimated duration of eight hours and 50 minutes. The capsule will dock autonomously with the Harmony module. The previous record of just under 15 hours was set by the Crew-11 mission.
The launch will take place from SpaceX’s Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) using a Falcon 9 rocket with booster B1101. This booster is on its third flight and is scheduled to perform a return-to-launch-site landing at Landing Zone 40. SpaceX has shifted crewed launches from Launch Complex 39A to SLC-40.
Jessica Watkins serves as the mission commander and is the only veteran astronaut on the crew. Joshua Kutryk is the first Canadian astronaut to fly under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA officials have indicated plans to resume Boeing Starliner flights to the station by 2028, while continuing to utilize Crew Dragon for upcoming missions.
