NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 Rocket Arrives at Launch Pad

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft for NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission rolled out to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday, Sept. 27. Teams raised the rocket to vertical position at Space Launch Complex 40, where it will await liftoff no earlier than 11:10 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 1.

At the pad, rocket and ground systems engineering teams conducted an integrated static fire of the Falcon 9, followed by detailed data reviews by operations teams.

The Crew-13 mission will carry NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov to the International Space Station for a long-duration mission. They will conduct new and exciting scientific research aboard the orbiting laboratory to prepare for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit and to benefit life on Earth.

While this is the first spaceflight for Delaney, Kutryk, and Teteryatikov, Crew-13 will be Watkins' second spaceflight, as she will become the first NASA astronaut to launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft twice.

Keep up with the Crew-13 launch updates by following along on the mission blog, @NASAKennedy on X, or NASA Kennedy on Facebook.