Crew-13 Arrives on Florida’s Space Coast Ahead of Flight to the International Space Station
The crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission arrived on Florida’s Space Coast Saturday, Sept. 26, marking one of the final milestones before their journey to the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center following preflight quarantine at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
It was a picture-perfect Florida afternoon for the crew’s arrival, with sunny skies and warm, but unusually comfortable, weather for the Space Coast.
A support team arrived first aboard a Gulfstream V from Johnson Space Center. Shortly afterward, two T-38 jets carrying the Crew-13 astronauts touched down at Kennedy at approximately 12:47 p.m. The jets taxied across the runway toward the area where members of the press had gathered to welcome the crew.
After stepping out of the aircraft, the four crew members met with the media and answered questions about the mission and the final days leading up to launch. The crew then posed together for group photographs before departing the runway area in a white minivan. Their arrival shifts the focus of Crew-13 from months of training and preparation to the final days before launch.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting 11:10 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 1, for liftoff aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. If the mission launches as scheduled, Dragon is expected to reach the International Space Station less than nine hours later, docking at approximately 8 p.m. at the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.
The Oct. 1 launch date comes after NASA and SpaceX adjusted Crew-13’s original schedule following the discovery of an oxidizer leak in Dragon’s propulsion system during standard prelaunch spacecraft processing. Teams conducted additional testing and data reviews before moving forward with the new launch opportunity.
Four Crew Members, Three Space Agencies
Watkins will command Crew-13, making her the only veteran spaceflyer among the four crew members. A geologist selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017, Watkins previously launched aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission in 2022 and spent 170 days aboard the International Space Station as part of Expeditions 67 and 68. Before joining the astronaut corps, her research focused on the geology of Mars, and she worked as a member of the Curiosity rover science team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Crew-13 will mark the first spaceflight for the other three members of the crew.
Delaney, who will serve as pilot, was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021. The Florida native is a naval aviator and test pilot who previously worked as a research pilot at NASA’s Langley Research Center, supporting airborne science missions.
Kutryk will serve as a mission specialist. Selected as a Canadian Space Agency astronaut in 2017, he previously served as a CF-18 fighter pilot and experimental test pilot and is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School.
Teteryatnikov, also serving as a mission specialist, joined the Russian cosmonaut corps in 2021. His background includes naval engineering and work involving ship power systems and undersea vessels. Together, the four will become members of Expedition 75 after reaching the space station.
Science in Orbit
Crew-13 will spend its long-duration mission supporting scientific investigations, technology demonstrations, station operations, and research intended to improve understanding of how humans live and work in space.
Several investigations will focus specifically on human health and performance.
NASA plans to study how spaceflight affects blood flow and clotting, evaluate methods for countering changes to vision and the brain during long-duration missions, and continue collecting health data that can inform future exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
Researchers will also study crew members’ manual piloting performance and measure the forces astronauts experience during their eventual return to Earth, providing data that could help refine spacecraft hardware and procedures.
The research is part of the International Space Station’s broader role as a laboratory for understanding the challenges of long-duration human spaceflight as NASA prepares for future missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars.
The Final Days Before Launch
With Crew-13 now on the Space Coast, the mission enters its final phase of preparation. NASA and SpaceX teams will continue a series of reviews and prelaunch activities to confirm that the crew, Dragon spacecraft, Falcon 9 rocket,
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