Crew-13 on Falcon 9 Block 5 — launch time & how to watch

SpaceX's Crew-13 mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than 00:00 UTC on 30 September 2026 aboard a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Crew-13 is a NASA Commercial Crew rotation flight that carries astronauts to the International Space Station inside a Crew Dragon capsule.

What is Crew-13?

Crew-13 is the 13th operational crew-rotation mission flown by SpaceX under NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which since 2020 has restored human spaceflight launches from U.S. soil. Each mission delivers a fresh long-duration Expedition crew to the ISS, typically for a stay of about six months, and returns the outgoing crew to Earth.

The Falcon 9 Block 5 is a two-stage, partially reusable orbital rocket standing roughly 70 meters tall. Its first stage returns to land for reuse, and SpaceX has flown individual boosters more than 20 times, according to SpaceX. For crewed missions, the company applies its most conservative refurbishment and inspection standards.

When is the launch?

The launch time is listed as no earlier than (NET) and the status is currently TBD, meaning the exact liftoff moment may shift as NASA and SpaceX finalize the schedule. Crewed launches are strictly instantaneous — the rocket must lift off at a precise second to match the ISS orbital plane, so any delay pushes the attempt to a later day.

What is the payload?

The payload is a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying a rotation crew to the ISS. Crew Dragon can seat up to four astronauts and docks autonomously with the station, which orbits at an average altitude of about 400 kilometers and circles Earth roughly every 90 minutes. You can follow the destination in real time with the Cosmik ISS tracker.

After the crew's arrival, Dragon remains docked as a lifeboat for the duration of the expedition before undocking to bring the crew home with a parachute-assisted ocean splashdown.

How to watch live

SpaceX and NASA typically begin their joint webcast around four hours before liftoff for crewed missions, covering suit-up, boarding, and the closeout sequence. Coverage runs continuously through stage separation, booster landing, and Dragon's orbital insertion.

• Webcast start: usually several hours before the instantaneous launch time
• Key moments: hatch closure, crew access arm retraction, ignition, MECO, first-stage landing, Dragon separation
• Docking: occurs roughly a day after launch, streamed separately by NASA

Track the countdown and get the confirmed liftoff time on the Cosmik rocket launch schedule, and see all upcoming SpaceX missions and other flights from Cape Canaveral.

Why does this mission matter?

Crew rotation flights keep the ISS permanently staffed, sustaining an uninterrupted human presence in orbit that has continued since November 2000. Each SpaceX crew mission also demonstrates the reusability model at the heart of the company's approach, with the same Dragon capsules and Falcon 9 boosters flown repeatedly across missions.

Launch data for this mission is sourced from The Space Devs Launch Library. For background, see the Falcon 9, Crew Dragon, and International Space Station pages on Wikipedia.

Follow Crew-13 live on Cosmik

Watch Crew-13 lift off and follow Crew Dragon's chase to the station on the Cosmik live 3D map, and keep up with mission updates on our latest launch news. Enable free launch alerts to get notified the moment the countdown for the 30 September 2026 liftoff goes live.