Four astronauts who spent weeks training at Johnson Space Center launched to the International Space Station on Thursday, Oct. 1, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission lifted off at 10:10 a.m. CST, sending the crew toward the station aboard the Dragon spacecraft Grace for what NASA called the fastest trip to the ISS ever, NPR reported. Docking was targeted for approximately 6 p.m. CST.
The crew includes NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins as commander, NASA astronaut Luke Delaney as pilot, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk as mission specialist and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov as mission specialist. Three of the four are rookies.
Watkins, a geologist who spent 170 days aboard the station during the 2022 Crew-4 mission, became the first NASA astronaut to launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft twice. She was the first Black woman to serve on the space station.
Houston roots
The crew completed preflight preparations at Johnson Space Center before departing Houston on Saturday, Sept. 26, flying T-38 jets from Ellington Field to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, according to NASA's Johnson Space Center on X.
After liftoff, Houston's Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center tracked Dragon's journey toward the station, NASA's Johnson Space Center said on X.
Dana Weigel, manager of NASA's Low Earth Orbit Program at Johnson Space Center, spoke at the mission's news conferences. The crew will study human stem-cell-derived tissues related to heart disease and Parkinson's disease, explore crop production for longer missions, investigate blood-flow abnormalities observed in space and test new diagnostic medical equipment.
Weigel also praised the crew's mission patch, which honors the Apollo 13 mission. "I think it really represents what we can do when we're faced with extremely challenging and dire circumstances," Weigel said.
A long road to launch
The mission was originally set for mid-September but was delayed after SpaceX discovered an oxidizer leak in the Dragon Grace capsule during processing in August, according to ABC News. Engineers also resolved problems with the vehicle's GPS and a rocket engine motor microcontroller before clearing Grace for flight.
Delaney, a naval aviator and former Marine Corps test pilot from DeBary, Fla., made his first trip to space. His alma mater, Deltona High School, declared Oct. 1 "Luke Delaney Day" as students gathered outside to watch him launch.
Kutryk, a fourth-generation Ukrainian Canadian, carried a more than 100-year-old family pocket watch aboard the mission. "If that's how much change in the last hundred years, how much more could change if we do things right in the next hundred?" Kutryk said during a prelaunch news conference.
What's next
The outgoing Crew-12 mission, which launched in February, is expected to return to Earth early next week, splashing down off the coast of Southern California. The Crew-13 team will join the station's Expedition 75 crew for up to six months of research.
The mission is SpaceX's 13th operational crew rotation flight for NASA.
