Crew-13 Spreads its Wings
NASA’s Crew-13 mission is on its way to the International Space Station, ready to support the next chapter of long-duration research aboard the orbiting laboratory. Launched on October 1st aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the crew will join Expedition 75/76, with docking set for just under 8 hours after launch. Their mission recently became one of the last for Crew Dragon, as NASA works to plan around the spacecraft’s retirement a few years from now.
Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, disappearing into cloudy skies at 11:10 AM ET after dodging nearby storms. The first stage performed a successful boostback and landing at LZ-40, while the crew arrived in orbit a few minutes later.
Crew-13 is commanded by NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins on her second spaceflight. Watkins holds a bachelor’s degree in geological and environmental sciences from Stanford University and a PhD in geology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has contributed her geology expertise to the Mars Phoenix lander, the NEOWISE asteroid survey telescope, and the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers. Watkins was selected to join NASA’s Astronaut Group 22 in 2017; her first flight was as a mission specialist aboard Crew-4 in 2022, supporting Expedition 67/68. During that mission she accrued the most time in space for a Black woman, as the first to serve on a long-duration ISS expedition. She is now the first NASA astronaut to fly twice aboard Crew Dragon.
NASA astronaut Luke Delaney is the pilot for Crew-13, making his first spaceflight. A retired Marine Corps Major, Delaney has logged over 3,700 flight hours across his military and NASA career, including over 550 combat hours. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of North Florida and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. Delaney has served as an aerial navigator, pilot, and test pilot for the KC-130, and has also flown 47 other models of aircraft. He was selected in 2021 to join NASA’s Astronaut Group 23.
Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency is one of Crew-13’s mission specialists, also as his first spaceflight. A colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Kutryk logged more than 4000 hours, flying the CF-18 both during combat missions and as a test pilot. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in defence studies from the Royal Military College of Canada, as well as master’s degrees in space studies from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and flight test engineering from the Air University. He was selected to join the Canadian Space Agency’s 2017 Astronaut Group alongside Jenni Gibbons.
The other mission specialist for Crew-13 is Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov on his first mission. A captain in the Russian Navy, Teteryatnikov earned a degree in engineering from the Naval Academy in St. Petersburg, and has previously worked aboard submarines. He was selected to join the Cosmonaut Corps in 2021.
Crew Dragon Grace is the most recent and final Dragon off the line, built as C213 to support additional demand amidst an aging fleet. Crew-13 is the second flight for Grace, which previously supported Axiom Mission 4 in 2025. The launch of Crew-13 was postponed from an initial target of September 12th after a leak was discovered in Grace’s oxidizer system, which has since been repaired.
Crew Dragon’s future has recently been cut short, as SpaceX announced its intent to retire the system by about 2030 alongside Falcon 9. In a September 28th press event regarding Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, NASA shared that it had procured three more Crew Dragon flights, carrying the system out to Crew-17. Still, Dana Weigel, manager of the Low Earth Orbit Program, expressed that NASA has little information about SpaceX’s plans beyond what has been publicly shared. Starliner is expected to fly its first crew aboard Starliner-2 in 2028, and NASA also plans to authorize a fifth and sixth mission under its contract with Boeing.
