What You Need to Know About NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 Mission

Four crew members are set to launch to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission to perform research, technology demonstrations, and maintenance aboard the orbiting laboratory.

NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney will support the mission as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, joined by CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov as mission specialists. Crew-13 will lift off no earlier than 11:10 a.m. EDT, Thursday, Oct. 1, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and join the space station’s Expedition 75 crew. Throughout its long‑duration mission, the crew will conduct science experiments to advance research and technology for future Moon and Mars missions and improve life on Earth.

“During the mission, the crew will help researchers treat heart disease and Parkinson’s disease by studying human stem-cell derived tissues that can help improve medicine, disease modeling, and pharmaceutical testing,” said Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “They also will explore crop production, which is important for longer-duration spaceflight missions, help us better understand blood flow abnormalities that we see in space, and test new diagnostic medical equipment for monitoring crew health.”

The flight is the 13th crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Office.

Support teams continue to progress through Dragon preflight milestones for Crew-13 and are preparing a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster for its third flight. Up in orbit, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 is preparing to return to Earth after a brief handover once Crew-13 arrives.

After all rocket and spacecraft system checkouts are complete and all components are certified, teams will mate Dragon to Falcon 9 in SpaceX’s hangar at the launch site. The integrated spacecraft and rocket will then roll to the pad, where it will be raised vertically for a dry dress rehearsal with the crew and an integrated static fire test before launch.

The quartet will fly aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft named Grace. This spacecraft previously flew in summer 2025 in support of private astronaut mission Axiom Mission 4.

This will be the second flight to the space station for Watkins, who was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017. She grew up in Lafayette, Colorado, and earned an undergraduate degree in geological and environmental sciences from Stanford University, as well as a doctorate in geology from the University of California, Los Angeles. As a geologist, Watkins studied the Martian surface and was a member of the Curiosity rover science team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. She first launched to the space station aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission, spending a total of 170 days in space across Expeditions 67/68 in 2022. She will be the first NASA astronaut to launch twice aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Follow Jessica on X and Instagram.

Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021, Delaney earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of North Florida and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School. The Florida native is a distinguished naval aviator who participated in exercises throughout the Asia-Pacific region and flew missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. As a test pilot, Delaney evaluated developmental aircraft systems and served as a test pilot instructor. He also worked as a research pilot at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where he supported airborne science missions. This is Delaney’s first spaceflight.

The Crew-13 mission also is the first spaceflight for Kutryk. Prior to his selection as a CSA astronaut in 2017, he served as a CF-18 fighter pilot, flying missions in support of Canada’s NATO, U.N., and North American Aerospace Defense Command commitments. A native of Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Kutryk worked as an experimental and operational test pilot at the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment in Cold Lake, Alberta. Kutryk received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, and is a distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot school in Edwards, California. He has master’s degrees in space studies, flight test engineering, and defense studies. Follow Josh on X and Instagram.

This mission will be Teteryatnikov’s first trip to the orbiting laboratory. He graduated from the Naval Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2011 as an engineer specializing in ship power plant operations. Before his selection as a test cosmonaut, Teteryatnikov served in various naval engineering roles, including undersea vessels and specialized engine room operations. He was selected for the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center Cosmonaut Corps in 2021 and has served as a test cosmonaut since 2023.

Following liftoff, Falcon 9 will accelerate Dragon to approximately 17,500 mph. Once in orbit, the crew, along with NASA and SpaceX mission control, will monitor a series of maneuvers guiding Dragon to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module. The spacecraft is designed to dock autonomously, but the crew can take manual control if necessary.

After docking, Crew-13 will be welcomed aboard the station by the seven-member Expedition 75 crew, including NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Anil Menon, and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev, and Anna Kikina. After a short handover period, the crew will bid farewell to the Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 crew of Meir, Hathaway, Adenot, and Fedyaev.

While aboard the orbiting laboratory, Crew-13 will welcome NASA’s SpaceX’s 35th commercial resupply mission in the fall for station resupply and the delivery of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays. The crew also will welcome NASA’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services-25 mission later this year.

For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station helps NASA understand and overcome the challenges of human spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and build on the foundation for long-duration missions to the Moon, as part of the Artemis program, and to Mars.

Learn more about the space station, its research, and crew, at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

Full text from nasa.gov (public domain).