SpaceX Crew-13 Targets Oct. 1 Launch as Crew-12 Heads Home

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — NASA and SpaceX are targeting Thursday, October 1, for the launch of Crew-13, the next long-duration mission to the International Space Station and the flight that will finally clear the way for the Crew-12 astronauts to return home after nearly eight months in orbit.

Liftoff is set for 11:10 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, aboard a Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon. The mission had slipped from an earlier September 12 target after teams detected an oxidizer leak in the Dragon spacecraft; engineers traced the issue to a faulty valve, replaced it and cleared the vehicle for the new window, NASA said.

A four-nation crew

Crew-13 reflects the international character of the orbiting laboratory. NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins will command the mission, joined by NASA pilot Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency mission specialist Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. The four will spend roughly six months conducting research and maintaining the station.

Their arrival triggers a carefully choreographed handover. Once Crew-13 is aboard and briefed, the Crew-12 astronauts — who launched February 13 and have logged close to eight months in space — will board their own Dragon and depart, with splashdown planned off the California coast. Precise undocking and return dates depend on Crew-13's arrival and weather. Preparations for that homecoming were already underway, as we reported when Crew-12 began gearing up for the trip home.

A reliable workhorse

The mission continues one of the most dependable partnerships in modern spaceflight. SpaceX's Dragon has become NASA's primary means of ferrying astronauts to and from the station, and the methodical response to the oxidizer leak — catch it, fix it, refly — reflects the safety-first cadence that has defined the program. That steady operational record has also underpinned confidence in the company, a theme running through the SpaceX stock story.

Busy weeks ahead

Crew-13 lands in an especially crowded stretch for SpaceX, which is simultaneously preparing Starship's first orbital flight and maintaining its record-setting Falcon 9 launch tempo. Managing crew rotations, cargo runs and test campaigns at once has become routine for a company that now launches more often than any other operator in the world.

For the Crew-12 team, October 1 is the milestone that matters most. Their safe return, after a mission stretched by the caution that keeps astronauts alive, would close another chapter in the steady, dependable human-spaceflight program SpaceX has built — and set the stage for the next crew to carry the work forward.