SpaceX successfully launches NASA Crew-13 astronauts to ISS

SpaceX ( SPCX ) launched four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, sending NASA's Crew-13 mission aloft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida after a nearly three-week delay .

A Falcon 9 rocket carried the Crew Dragon capsule Grace off Space Launch Complex 40, with forecasters having put the odds of favorable weather at 60%.

The first-stage booster landed back at Pad 40 minutes after liftoff. It was the booster's third flight, following a Starlink mission and the launch of Crew-12, per Spaceflight Now .

"Thanks for an amazing ride," Crew-13 commander Jessica Watkins radioed after reaching orbit. "They say that courage is grace under pressure, and the incredible teams that got us to orbit today truly embody that."

Crew-13 was originally slated for Sept. 12 but was pushed back after a leak in Grace's propulsion system was discovered during pre-mission checkouts.

Watkins, a geologist who flew on Crew-4, is the first NASA astronaut to launch on a Crew Dragon twice. Pilot Luke Delaney, a former naval aviator; Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, a fighter pilot; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, a former submariner, are all making their first spaceflights.

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman, who has flown Dragon twice on the private Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn missions, met with the crew before they headed to the pad.

Grace is scheduled to dock with the ISS at 7 p.m. ET, about eight hours after launch. The crew will spend six months aboard the orbiting lab as part of Expedition 75, relieving the Crew-12 astronauts, who will return home on Dragon Freedom after a handover.

Dragon remains the only US vehicle flying astronauts to the station. Boeing ( BA ) has not flown a crew on Starliner since its troubled 2024 test flight, and NASA said this week its next mission, an uncrewed cargo run, will launch no earlier than December , with a crewed flight targeted for mid-2028.

SpaceX plans to retire Crew Dragon, Cargo Dragon, and Falcon 9 once Starship is fully operational, though NASA recently contracted three additional Crew Dragon missions to support station operations in 2027 and 2028.

Pras Subramanian is Lead Transportation Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram .