NASA confirms Crew-13 launched at 11:10 a.m. EDT and safely reached orbit. Official NASA rendezvous and docking coverage begins at 5:20 p.m. EDT. Watch official NASA coverage.
VIDEO UPDATE: Crew-13 is now safely in orbit. NASA’s official rendezvous and docking coverage begins at 5:20 p.m. EDT. Watch official NASA coverage.
UPDATE — Oct. 1, 7:05 p.m. EDT: Crew-13 docks at space station
NASA confirmed the SpaceX Dragon carrying Crew-13 docked autonomously to the forward port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 7:05 p.m. EDT. The spacecraft launched from Florida at 11:10 a.m. EDT, completing the trip in 7 hours and 55 minutes. NASA described the mission as the fastest launch-to-docking flight by a U.S. spacecraft to the International Space Station.
Official docking update: NASA — Dragon docks, bringing SpaceX Crew-13 to station.
UPDATE — Oct. 1, 4:20 p.m. EDT: Crew-13 safely in orbit
NASA confirmed Crew-13 lifted off at 11:10 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and safely reached orbit. The Dragon spacecraft separated from the Falcon 9 second stage and opened its nosecone. Docking with the International Space Station is targeted for about 7 p.m. EDT, with NASA arrival coverage beginning at 5:20 p.m. The planned 7-hour, 50-minute trip would be the fastest launch-to-docking by a U.S. spacecraft in space station history.
Latest official source: NASA — Crew-13 launches to International Space Station.
UPDATE — Oct. 1, 8:31 a.m. EDT: Crew-13 at launch pad
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 remains scheduled to lift off at 11:10 a.m. EDT today from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA reported this morning that the four crew members have arrived at the launch pad, where the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are being prepared for flight.
NASA’s live launch broadcast is scheduled to begin at 9:20 a.m. EDT. If the launch proceeds as planned, Dragon is scheduled to separate from the Falcon 9 second stage at about 11:19 a.m. NASA says the mission’s planned launch-to-docking timeline could make it the fastest trip to the International Space Station by a U.S. spacecraft.
Zark News will update this story after liftoff is confirmed.
Latest official sources: NASA launch-day update | NASA launch milestones
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The four astronauts of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission landed at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, to begin final launch preparations for their flight to the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov flew in aboard T-38 jets from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, touching down at the Shuttle Landing Facility at 12:56 p.m. EDT after a refueling stop in Mississippi.
Watkins, the commander, is the crew’s only spaceflight veteran, having spent 170 days aboard the station in 2022. Speaking to reporters after landing, she called the arrival “both the culmination and the beginning of a journey for us.”
“We’ve been training together as a crew for over a year,” Watkins said. “So this is the culmination of all that work and effort, and we are very grateful to the teams of experts from around the world who have prepared and gotten us ready for this. But it is also the beginning. We’re excited, we’re ready to fly.”
The warmest moment of the arrival event came from Kutryk, the Canadian mission specialist, who reflected on what the day meant to him personally.
“Yes, I like the question,” Kutryk said when asked how excited he was for the mission. “As you point out, we are all very excited to do this. Of course, we’ve dreamed of going to space since we were children.”
He described leaving Houston that morning, seeing the families who came to see them off, and landing to crowds at Kennedy. “You see all the people there, the whole family there. You feel supported from beginning to end… you really feel that support,” he said. “We feel like some of the luckiest people in the world.”
Kutryk also noted he had flown to Cape Canaveral “probably a hundred times” before — but Saturday was different. “Today is very special,” he said.
Watkins said the crew is looking forward to joining the Expedition 75 crew aboard the station, where they will carry out science experiments, maintenance, and outreach — including research into how the human body responds to spaceflight, which will inform future deep-space missions.
Rights: Footage: NASA. Public domain. This use does not imply NASA endorsement of Zark News.
