NASA, SpaceX Launch Astronauts to International Space Station

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 launched to the International Space Station atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 Dragon from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., on Oct. 1, 2026. T.J. Muscaro/The Epoch Times

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, burning bright, broke through grey, dreary skies over Florida’s Space Coast on Oct. 1.

The launch of the rocket—capped with the reusable Crew Dragon Grace, which contained two Americans, one Canadian, and one Russian—kicked off NASA’s Crew-13 mission bound for the International Space Station.

Riding the flight-tested capsule and booster were NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. They will call the space station home for the next six months, during which they will continue scientific and technical work to maintain humanity’s 25-year-strong continuing presence in low Earth orbit and further understanding of spaceflight’s impacts on the human body that also benefit life on Earth.

The mission was previously set to launch on Sept. 12. However, critical leaks were discovered on the vehicle, and an extended time for troubleshooting and repairs was required.

The Oct. 1 window, however, still faced challenges, especially with weather. As the crew woke up and made their way to their spacecraft, the weather had only a 40 percent chance of meeting NASA’s safety requirements needed for launch. But the weather held out, and the roaring Falcon 9 rocket broke through the clouds just after 11 a.m. ET. Shortly after staging, the booster re-emerged below the clouds for a successful soft landing at Landing Zone 40—right next to its launch pad.

Watkins, Delaney, Kutryk, and Teteryatnikov had an eight-hour journey to the space station. This is the shortest journey a SpaceX Crew Dragon has flown from Kennedy Space Center to the orbital outpost.

Once there, the crew will join the station’s 75th liveaboard “Expedition” mission. They will conduct spacewalks, receive a SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft, conduct stem cell research to help better combat diseases on Earth, including heart disease and parkinson’s. They will also study how long exposure to microgravity affects blood flow in the human body. Kutryk, specifically, will be conducting experiments for the Canadian Space Agency studying the mental health of astronauts in long-duration spaceflight, such as looking at stress coping strategies.

Watkins, who commands the mission, became the first NASA astronaut to launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule twice. She previously flew on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission in 2022, and spent 170 days in space.

Delaney sat next to Watkins in the capsule, serving as the mission’s pilot. This is his first trip to space since being selected to be a NASA astronaut in 2021.

Crew-13 is also the first trip to space for Kutryk, and he is expected to be in space when his wife gives birth to their third child. He is the fourth Canadian Astronaut to live aboard the International Space Station, and the first Canadian to fly aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

Teteryatnikov is also a first-time flier. A graduate of Russia’s Naval Academy in St. Petersburg, he served as a test cosmonaut from 2021 to 2023. His presence continues an ongoing seat-swap arrangement between the United States and the Russian Federation. As one Russian cosmonaut flies aboard an American spacecraft, so too does an American astronaut get a seat on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. This agreement is expected to last at least through the extent of the life of the International Space Station.

This team of four will be greeted by their peers on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission. The two crews will undergo a short turnover period where Crew-12 gets Crew-13 caught up and ready to take over ongoing work and experiments. NASA leadership said the SpaceX Crew-12 mission was expected to come home sometime in the next week after spending almost eight months in space.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 is the first crewed mission to be numbered 13 since Apollo 13, and the crew added an homage to that famous mission in their mission patch.