Crew-13 reaches the space station on the fastest launch-to-docking by a US spacecraft
2 October 2026
NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission lifted off at 11:10 a.m. EDT on Thursday, 1 October 2026 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried the Dragon spacecraft with four crew members aboard. NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins is the mission commander and NASA astronaut Luke Delaney is the pilot. They are joined by Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency and Sergey Teteryatnikov of Roscosmos as mission specialists. Dragon was due to dock with the International Space Station at about 7:00 p.m. EDT the same day, roughly 7 hours and 50 minutes after launch. NASA said this would make it the fastest launch-to-docking by a United States spacecraft in the history of the International Space Station. The four join the Expedition 75 crew aboard the station.
In plain words
EDT Eastern Daylight Time — The summer clock time of the eastern United States, which is 9 hours 30 minutes behind Indian Standard Time.
Docking Docking — The act of joining a spacecraft to a space station so that crew can move between them.
Roscosmos Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities — Russia's state space corporation.