CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX and NASA are targeting 11:10 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 1, to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Docking is planned less than eight hours after liftoff, but forecasts give the mission a 55% chance of launching because of a 45% risk of a weather violation.
NASA and SpaceX officials said the spacecraft and rocket are ready for flight. “Right now, everything is ‘go,’” Lori Glaze, NASA’s associate administrator for human spaceflight, said during a prelaunch briefing Wednesday.
The Crew-13 mission will carry Jessica Watkins, who is poised to become the first NASA astronaut to launch aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft for a second time. She will serve as commander, with NASA’s Luke Delaney as pilot. Mission specialists Joshua Kutryk, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, and Sergey Teteryatnikov, a cosmonaut, will round out the first-time crew.
Their Crew Dragon capsule, named Grace, will carry the team into low Earth orbit and ferry them to the station. The astronauts will spend about six months living and working aboard the ISS as part of Expedition 75. Their duties will include maintaining the orbital laboratory and conducting scientific experiments.
Much of the research will focus on the effects of long-duration spaceflight on human health. The crew will study tissues derived from human stem cells to support research into heart and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as medicine development, disease modeling and pharmaceutical testing. They also plan to investigate blood-flow abnormalities seen in space, test diagnostic equipment for monitoring crew health and examine crop production for future long-duration missions.
Crew-13’s arrival will also mark the closing phase of Crew-12, which launched in February and has spent additional weeks aboard the station. Crew-13 was originally scheduled to launch Sept. 12, but the date was delayed after a leak was found in Grace’s propulsion system during preflight checks. NASA and SpaceX have since cleared the capsule for flight.
If weather or another issue prevents Thursday’s launch, a backup opportunity is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 2, at 10:47 a.m. EDT.
Original Source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-is-go-to-launch-nasas-crew-13-astronaut-mission-to-the-iss-on-oct-1
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Publish Date: 2026-10-01 04:17:00
