Crew-13 launches four astronauts toward the space station
Crew-13 has lifted off from Florida with four crew members aboard Dragon, turning the mission’s launch preparations into an orbital flight. The four crew members are due to join the International Space Station for a research expedition. Docking is still ahead; the mission includes work on human health, tissue growth and plants in microgravity.
Science··Night
Four people are now in flight
Crew-13 lifted off on October 1 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. A Falcon 9 rocket launched the Dragon spacecraft with four crew members aboard, beginning their journey to the International Space Station. The successful launch changes the mission’s status from cleared preparations to an orbital flight.[1], [2]
NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney are traveling with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. The crew will conduct a long research expedition after reaching the station.[1]
Docking and handover remain ahead
NASA expected autonomous docking at the forward port of the Harmony module on October 1. That remains a scheduled step at this edition’s cutoff. SpaceX will monitor Dragon’s automated maneuvers from California, while NASA follows station operations from Houston.[1]
After arrival, Crew-13 is due to join Expedition 75 members Anil Menon, Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. A short handover is planned before the four Crew-12 members return to Earth.[1]
A research program, with results still to come
The planned science includes growing tissues from human stem cells in microgravity for disease models and drug testing involving heart disease and Parkinson’s disease. Plant experiments will examine mostly autonomous crop production and growth outside dedicated facilities. Other investigations concern blood-flow abnormalities in microgravity and an onboard health diagnostic device. These are planned investigations that have not yet yielded findings for the new expedition; liftoff itself supplies no results from them.[1]
