NASA’s Crew-13 Is Ready for Liftoff — Four Astronauts Are Heading to Space

Four astronauts are preparing to leave Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft — and they could reach the International Space Station in less than eight hours. NASA and SpaceX are getting ready for another major human spaceflight mission. The Crew-13 mission is scheduled to launch today, October 1, 2026, carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA and its international partners completed the final launch-readiness review and gave the mission the “go” to proceed toward liftoff. The launch is targeted for 11:10 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA is providing live coverage of the mission. Who is going to space? Crew-13 is an international team. The crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, who will serve as commander, and Luke Delaney, who will serve as pilot. They will be joined by Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. For Delaney, Kutryk and Teteryatnikov, this will be their first spaceflight. Watkins is returning for her second spaceflight. NASA says she will become the first NASA astronaut to fly aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft twice. A SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch the crew The astronauts will travel aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, named Grace, launched on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. The Falcon 9 and Dragon were moved to the launch pad in late September, where teams carried out an integrated static-fire test and reviewed the results before the final launch preparations. After reaching orbit, Dragon will travel toward the ISS and dock with the station's Harmony module. NASA says the spacecraft is designed to dock autonomously, although the crew can take manual control if necessary. The trip could be surprisingly fast One of the interesting parts of this mission is the planned journey time. NASA says Crew-13 could reach the International Space Station in about 7 hours and 50 minutes after launch. If that schedule is achieved, it could become the fastest U.S. spacecraft journey to the ISS. That means the astronauts could go from launch pad to the orbiting laboratory in less than a single working day. What will the astronauts do in space? Crew-13 isn't simply a trip to the ISS. The astronauts will spend months working on scientific research, technology demonstrations and station maintenance. NASA says some of the research will investigate heart disease and Parkinson's disease using human stem-cell-derived tissues. Other experiments will examine crop production, blood-flow abnormalities that occur in space and new medical diagnostic equipment for monitoring astronaut health. The research could also help NASA prepare for future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. The weather is still a factor Even after NASA and SpaceX gave the mission the green light, weather remains something to watch. NASA's launch-weather team initially estimated a 55% chance of favorable weather conditions for the October 1 launch window. Scattered showers and clouds over Florida could potentially affect the launch. So while the mission is cleared to proceed, the final launch still depends on conditions remaining within the required limits. What happens next? If Crew-13 launches successfully, the four astronauts will join the Expedition 75 crew aboard the International Space Station. They will begin a long-duration mission focused on research, station operations and preparation for future human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. For NASA and SpaceX, Crew-13 is another step in maintaining regular human transportation to the ISS through NASA's Commercial Crew Program. For the astronauts, however, it comes down to one moment first: the countdown reaching zero. BeFairNews will continue following the Crew-13 mission and report the latest developments as they happen.