Crew-13 touches down at Kennedy today - Oct. 1 countdown starts

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 astronauts are due at Kennedy Space Center at approximately 1 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 26, after NASA, SpaceX and international partners polled "go" to continue preparing for the mission following Friday's Flight Readiness Review, the agency said.

The four-person crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, commander, and Luke Delaney, pilot, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, both mission specialists, according to NASA. The crew is arriving from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and will deliver brief remarks and take questions from media before heading to Astronaut Crew Quarters at Kennedy, NASA said. The arrival is set to stream live on NASA Kennedy's YouTube channel.

Flight Readiness Review: go

NASA, SpaceX and international partners polled "go" to continue preparing for the Crew-13 launch following Friday's Flight Readiness Review at Kennedy Space Center, NASA said. The review is an in-depth assessment of SpaceX's transportation system, mission operations, support functions and the space station's readiness to receive the crew.

Launch target: Oct. 1 from SLC-40

Liftoff remains targeted for no earlier than 11:10 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 1, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, according to NASA. If that launch opportunity holds, Crew-13 would arrive at the space station less than nine hours later, with docking planned for about 8 p.m. at the Harmony module's forward-facing port, NASA said.

Why the date moved

Crew-13 had been targeting a launch no earlier than Sept. 12, NASA said when the crew introduced itself in an Aug. 3 briefing. NASA and SpaceX adjusted the schedule Aug. 29 after teams detected an oxidizer leak on Dragon's propulsion system during standard prelaunch processing, the agency said. A Sept. 16 station update said the team had successfully replaced the oxidizer valve, and NASA and SpaceX began targeting early October for launch.

What's next for the Space Coast

Saturday's arrival starts an intensive stretch of quarantine, suit checks, equipment reviews and mission briefings at Kennedy before liftoff, according to NASA. If the countdown holds, Thursday's 11:10 a.m. launch from Space Launch Complex 40 is the next major public milestone for the mission.