NASA and SpaceX have pushed back the launch of Crew-13, the next crewed flight to the International Space Station, after engineers found an oxidizer leak in the Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system during standard prelaunch processing. The two agencies announced the delay on Aug. 29, 2026. The flight had been targeting no earlier than Sept. 12, 2026.
Key facts
- Mission: Crew-13, the next crewed flight to the International Space Station
- Cause: an oxidizer leak found in the Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system during standard prelaunch processing
- Delay announced: Aug. 29, 2026
- Original target: no earlier than Sept. 12, 2026
- Current target: no earlier than late September 2026, with no specific day set
- Crew: four astronauts — Jessica Watkins (commander, NASA), Luke Delaney (pilot, NASA), Sergey Teteryatnikov (mission specialist, Roscosmos), Joshua Kutryk (mission specialist, Canadian Space Agency)
- Launch site: Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on a Falcon 9 rocket
The leak that caused the delay
A single-source report identified the oxidizer as nitrogen tetroxide, which Dragon’s Draco thrusters burn with fuel to steer the spacecraft and dock it to the station; NASA’s own announcement did not identify those details. NASA has not identified what specific part failed or what caused the leak, beyond calling it an oxidizer leak in Dragon’s propulsion system.
When will Crew-13 launch
Crew-13 was originally targeted to launch no earlier than Sept. 12, 2026. That target has since moved: as of Sept. 10, 2026, NASA’s own updated window is only that Crew-13 is targeted for no earlier than late September 2026, with no specific day set. The agency’s mission page and its Aug. 29 blog post both use that same open-ended wording, and both say a new target date will be announced once one is available. NASA and SpaceX say they are still testing the spacecraft’s propulsion system and reviewing data before clearing it to fly, and neither agency has given a date for when that review will be finished.
An unofficial date is circulating
A third date is circulating separately, and it is not an official one: some launch-tracking websites, which are not run by NASA or SpaceX, list Sept. 30, 2026 as Crew-13’s expected launch date. NASA has not confirmed that date, and the trackers publishing it note it is an estimate that could still change. Readers should treat it as a placeholder, not an official launch date.
Who is flying on Crew-13
Once Crew-13 does fly, four astronauts will ride a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on what is NASA’s 13th crew rotation flight under its Commercial Crew Program with SpaceX. NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins will command the mission. She flew to the station once before, on Crew-4 in 2022, spending 170 days aboard, and NASA says this flight will make her the first NASA astronaut to launch on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft twice. Luke Delaney, also of NASA, will serve as pilot on his first spaceflight.
The mission’s two other seats belong to international partners. Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov will fly as a mission specialist on his first spaceflight. So will Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency, who, according to the Canadian Space Agency’s own announcement, will be the first Canadian astronaut to fly under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
The crew already aboard the station
The four will join Expedition 75 aboard the station, where the crew already living there — NASA’s Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency, and Roscosmos’s Andrey Fedyaev — is continuing its regular workload while it waits. That work has included the departure of a Russian Progress cargo craft, which undocked from the station around Sept. 8, 2026.
What happens next
Whether the delay will shift the schedule for other station traffic, such as upcoming cargo flights, or change how long the current crew waits aboard before Crew-13 arrives to relieve them, NASA has not said. Those questions, like the new launch date itself, are still open.
Sources and further reading
- NASA, SpaceX Adjust Crew-13 Launch Date
- NASA Shares SpaceX Crew-13 Assignments for Space Station Mission
- NASA Sets Briefings for SpaceX Crew-13 Mission to Space Station
- Spacewalk Preps, Health Research on Station as NASA Introduces SpaceX Crew-13
- nasa.gov
- NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 (mission page)
- Astronaut Joshua Kutryk’s biography