Weather a threat, but astronauts on board for SpaceX Crew-13 launch this morning

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Oct 1, 2026

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Florida weather could put a monkey wrench in SpaceX and NASA’s plans to launch the Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station today.

Already a mass of rain has migrated onshore from the Atlantic, and could threaten the 11:10 a.m. liftoff time with SpaceX announcing this morning that there was only a 40% chance for good conditions, down from the 55% predicted by Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron one day previous.

SLD 45 said a 24-hour delay would see conditions improve to 60% and a 48-hour delay would improve to 70%. Friday’s launch target would be 10:47 a.m.

When it does fly, Crew-13 will carry four passengers: NASA astronaut and commander Jessica Watkins, NASA astronaut and Central Floridian Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.

The quartet will ride in the Crew Dragon Grace, making its second trip to space, flying atop a Falcon 9 rocket launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.

The plan if they launched today would be for a quick rendezvous with the space station docking only after seven hours, 50 minutes.

The crew have been getting ready at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center. They arrived to KSC last Saturday and ran through a test run this week.

The quartet already made their walkout and hopped into their Teslas for the ride to the pad. With three hours before the planned liftoff, they will venture into the Crew Dragon and undergo communications and spacesuit leak checks as the closeout crew makes sure Dragon’s cabin seal is tight for flight.

On his walk across the crew access tower, Delaney, who was raised in DeBary and attended both DeLand and Deltona High School, was all smiles and gave a raised fist before venturing into the spacecraft. The 47-year-old who was chosen as a member of the 2021 class of astronauts is making his first trip to space.

Watkins is making her second spaceflight having previously flown on Crew-4 in 2022 while this is the first spaceflight for Kutryk and Teteryatnikov as well.

Their arrival means that Crew-12 can get ready to depart after having been on board the station since February.

Crew-13’s stay on board is slated to be about six months as NASA tries to keep up a steady cadence of crewed missions to the station before the end of its planned lifespan after 2030.

SpaceX was recently awarded task orders for missions through Crew-17, but NASA also said it was reinvesting its efforts to get fellow commercial crew provider Boeing’s Starliner to a usable state.

A uncrewed version of Starliner is slated to fly and dock with the space station as early as December as Boeing and NASA work to fix major issues seen during its lone crewed flight in 2024. A first rotational crewed mission for Starliner would not come until 2028, but NASA has options to order up to five crewed missions if needed.

The launch is one of two SpaceX plans on Thursday from Florida.

Its powerhouse Falcon Heavy is slated to launch at 11:53 p.m. from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A on the NROL-97 mission with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Of note, both the Crew-13 booster, and the two side boosters for Falcon Heavy would attempt landings back on the Space Coast meaning Central Florida counties could be in store for up to three sonic booms today.

The two launches would be the 57th and 58th from the Space Coast in 2026.

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