Watch Live: NASA’s Crew-13 Launches to the ISS Thursday

The SpaceX Crew-13 mission is scheduled to launch on Thursday, October 1, transporting four astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida is set for 11:10 AM ET. Public livestream coverage will commence earlier, at 9:20 AM ET, across multiple platforms including NASA’s YouTube channel, Netflix, Discovery+, X, NASA+, and Amazon Prime Video.

The spacecraft commander is Jessica Watkins, a geologist who previously flew on SpaceX Crew-4 and served on the science team for the Curiosity rover. Joining her is pilot Luke Delaney, a research pilot from NASA’s Langley Research Center making his inaugural journey to space. The payload also includes CSA astronaut Joshua Kutryk, experiencing his first spaceflight, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, who is heading to the orbital laboratory for the first time.

During their expedition, the crew will perform scientific investigations and technology tests designed to support future human exploration of the Moon and Mars. They will relieve the SpaceX Crew-12 team, which was forced to shelter in place within their capsule back in June due to an air leak on the station.

Upon completion, the Crew-13 flight will hold the record for the fastest transit time by a US spacecraft to the space station, taking approximately seven hours and 50 minutes from launch to docking. This mission continues regular ISS resupply operations as NASA focuses on its broader Artemis goals. Although the agency has delayed the return of humans to the lunar surface to 2028, it successfully completed the Artemis II lunar flyby in April and plans to test landing systems during the Artemis III mission in 2027.