SpaceX Is 'Go' to Launch Crew-13 to the Space Station

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — SpaceX is "go" to send four astronauts toward the International Space Station on Thursday, with a Falcon 9 and the Crew Dragon Grace poised to lift off from Cape Canaveral at 11:10 a.m. EDT on the Crew-13 mission for NASA.

The green light caps a methodical week of pre-flight milestones for the company, which only days earlier completed a clean static fire of the Falcon 9 that will carry the crew. NASA's associate administrator, Lori Glaze, summed up the mood at the final readiness review: "Right now, everything is 'go.'"

A Weather Watch, Not a Hardware Worry

The only real question mark is the Florida sky. Launch forecasters put the odds of acceptable weather at roughly 55 percent for the 11:10 a.m. attempt, leaving a 45 percent chance that clouds or wind push the mission to its backup window on Friday at 10:47 a.m. EDT.

Hardware, by contrast, is in good shape. The Crew Dragon Grace had been targeted for a September 12 launch before teams found a small propulsion-system leak during checkouts and stood down to fix it. SpaceX replaced the suspect components, re-tested the system and declared the capsule healthy — the kind of catch-it-early discipline that has defined the Dragon program's safety record.

Eight Hours to Docking

If Falcon 9 lights on time, Grace will chase the station through orbit and dock autonomously about eight hours later, near 8 p.m. EDT. The four-person crew will then begin a roughly six-month stay as part of Expedition 75.

Commander Jessica Watkins leads the flight — becoming the first NASA astronaut to launch twice aboard a Crew Dragon — alongside pilot Luke Delaney and mission specialists Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency and Sergey Teteryatnikov of Roscosmos.

SpaceX arrives at this launch on a remarkable roll. Just days ago the company flew Starship to orbit for the first time, a milestone that reset expectations for how quickly its next-generation vehicle could start carrying cargo and crew of its own. Crew-13, flown on the proven Falcon 9, is the dependable workhorse side of the same company — launching people to orbit on a schedule that now feels routine.

Routine Is the Achievement

That routine is exactly the point. NASA's Commercial Crew Program was built so the agency could buy rides to the station the way it buys any other service, and Crew-13 is the latest proof that the model works. For the full countdown timeline and live coverage, Space.com is tracking the launch minute by minute.

With a healthy rocket, a repaired capsule and a crew ready to fly, the only thing left to do is wait for the clouds to cooperate — and, most likely, light the candle.