CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Crew-13 is approaching the International Space Station after a successful launch from Florida’s Space Coast.
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is expected to dock autonomously with the forward port of the station’s Harmony module around 7 p.m.
Watch NASA’s live coverage of the docking here.
NASA’s coverage includes the spacecraft’s rendezvous, docking and hatch opening. The hatch is expected to open around 8:45 p.m.
Crew-13 lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 11:10 a.m. Thursday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
After reaching orbit, the astronauts thanked the teams responsible for the successful launch.
“SpaceX Dragon, thanks for an amazing ride,” Watkins said. “The incredible team that got us to orbit today truly embody that courage under pressure.”
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman also praised the thousands of people involved in the launch effort, emphasizing that human spaceflight missions are anything but routine.
“These are demanding missions,” Isaacman said. “They take extreme expertise and competence across thousands of people to pull off successfully.”
The mission has a Central Florida connection. Delaney is a DeBary native making his first trip to space.
Delaney was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021. He previously served as a naval aviator and test pilot before working as a research pilot at NASA’s Langley Research Center.
The approximately seven-hour, 50-minute journey is expected to become the fastest launch-to-docking trip by a U.S. spacecraft in the history of the International Space Station.
SpaceX is monitoring Dragon’s automatic maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California. NASA is monitoring space station operations from Johnson Space Center in Houston.
After docking, the astronauts will change out of their spacesuits and prepare cargo for removal before entering the station.
Crew-13 will join the Expedition 75 crew already aboard the orbiting laboratory. The arriving astronauts will complete a brief handover with the members of Crew-12 before that crew returns to Earth.
During their mission, the Crew-13 astronauts will conduct research involving human stem cell-derived tissue, crop production and the effects of microgravity on blood flow. They will also test a new diagnostic device designed to monitor astronaut health during spaceflight.
NASA said the research will support scientific work aboard the space station while helping prepare for future missions to the moon and Mars.
Read Channel 9’s previous coverage of the Crew-13 launch.
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