NASA’s Crew-13 reaches orbit after SpaceX launch, with station docking next

NASA’s Crew-13 mission reached orbit on Thursday, October 1, after a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched four astronauts from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 11:10 a.m. EDT. NASA said the Dragon spacecraft separated from the rocket’s second stage and opened its nosecone, clearing the way for a planned docking with the International Space Station later Thursday.

The confirmed arrival in orbit moves the mission from launch to its approach to the station. NASA is targeting docking at 7 p.m. EDT at the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module. Its launch update establishes that the spacecraft was in orbit; it does not establish that docking had taken place.

Who is aboard NASA’s Crew-13 Dragon?

The four people aboard are NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. NASA assigned Watkins to command the flight and Delaney to serve as pilot. Kutryk and Teteryatnikov are mission specialists. The mission brings together crew members from the United States, Canada and Russia for a long-duration stay aboard the station.

Watkins has flown to the station before. NASA says she spent 170 days in space during Expeditions 67 and 68 in 2022, after launching on Crew-4. NASA describes this flight as making her the first of its astronauts to launch twice aboard a SpaceX Dragon. Delaney, Kutryk and Teteryatnikov are each making their first spaceflight, according to NASA’s crew profiles and Space.com’s launch coverage.

When is Crew-13 expected to dock with the ISS?

NASA expects the crew’s trip through orbit to take just under eight hours. The agency says that, if the targeted schedule is met, it would be the fastest launch-to-docking journey in the International Space Station’s history. That description concerns a planned journey: the checked NASA report confirms orbit and states a docking target, without reporting a completed docking.

The spacecraft is headed for a port on Harmony, a module of the station. NASA says Dragon is designed to dock autonomously, while the crew can take manual control if needed. The immediate questions are whether it reaches the station at the targeted time, completes docking and allows its crew to enter. Those steps require separate confirmation after the orbital arrival announced by NASA.

NASA scheduled a postlaunch news conference for approximately 1:10 p.m. EDT at Kennedy Space Center. The agency listed NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, human spaceflight officials, a Canadian Space Agency representative and a SpaceX representative among the planned participants. The conference was an opportunity for a further mission update; the orbit announcement itself did not report a docking result.

What happens after Crew-13 arrives?

NASA says Crew-13 is expected to join Expedition 75 aboard the station. Its mission overview describes a short handover before the departing Crew-12 astronauts return to Earth. NASA identifies the Crew-12 members preparing to leave as Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot and Andrey Fedyaev. The timing of that handover depends on Crew-13 arriving and entering the station.

The flight is NASA’s 13th crew rotation mission to the station with SpaceX under its Commercial Crew Program. Dragon Grace flew previously on the private Axiom Mission 4 in summer 2025, NASA says. For this mission, the spacecraft is carrying a replacement crew whose work is intended to cover station research, technology demonstrations and maintenance.

NASA says the planned research includes studies of human stem-cell-derived tissues relevant to heart disease and Parkinson’s disease. Dana Weigel, manager of the agency’s Low Earth Orbit Program, also identified crop production, blood-flow abnormalities in space and diagnostic equipment for monitoring crew health among the work planned for Crew-13. These are research aims described by NASA, rather than medical outcomes established by the launch.

The agency describes Crew-13 as a long-duration mission. The Associated Press reported an expected stay of about six months, but the sources here do not establish an exact return date. For now, NASA’s confirmed milestone is that Dragon reached orbit after Thursday’s launch; the station arrival, handover and subsequent work remain ahead.