NASA and SpaceX launch Crew-13 mission with first Dragon double-flyer Jessica Watkins
The Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station marks the first time a NASA astronaut has flown twice on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
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At 11:10 a.m. EDT on October 1, 2026, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft named Dragon Grace. The mission, designated Crew-13, represents a routine rotation of station crew — but with one notable first for the program.
Leading the crew is NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, who becomes the first agency astronaut to fly twice onboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Her second Dragon flight puts her in a small but growing club of astronauts who have repeated on the vehicle, a milestone that reflects both the maturity of the Commercial Crew program and the accumulation of flight experience NASA is now building with its primary ride to orbit.
Watkins is joined by fellow NASA astronaut Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. The four-person crew composition was confirmed by NASA following the Launch Readiness Review, a formal safety assessment completed September 30 by NASA, SpaceX, and international partner teams that polled “go” to proceed with liftoff.
The crew’s transit to the station is expected to take about eight hours after launch, which Spaceflight Now reports would be the shortest transit time ever for a Dragon spacecraft. The six-month expedition will continue the ongoing science and maintenance work that has kept the station continuously occupied for more than two decades.
For Watkins, the flight continues a trajectory that began with her selection as a NASA astronaut in 2017 and her first spaceflight on Crew-4 in 2022. The ability to put experienced astronauts back on the same vehicle type — rather than spreading flight experience thinly across multiple spacecraft — is part of what NASA bought into with the fixed-price Commercial Crew contracts. Crew-13 demonstrates that the model is now delivering repeat flyers.