NASA, SpaceX target early October launch as Crew-13 head into quarantine

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Sep 18, 2026

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Central Florida astronaut Luke Delaney is getting closer to his first spaceflight as he and his three Crew-13 crewmates entered quarantine Thursday night targeting a Space Coast launch in early October.

Delaney, 47, who grew up in Volusia County and attended both DeLand and Deltona high schools, was chosen as a member of the 2021 class of astronauts. He’s taking the role of pilot for the flight that will bring him and fellow NASA astronaut and commander Jessica Watkins, along with rookies Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, to the International Space Station for a long-term stay on board.

They’re slated to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 on a Falcon 9 rocket topped with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Grace. The newest Crew Dragon is making its second trip to space following last year’s Axiom 4 mission.

The flight had originally been targeting launch earlier in September, but SpaceX and NASA announced the spacecraft had an issue with its propulsion system forcing the delay to October. Teams replaced an oxidizer valve and put the launch back on the calendar.

The members of Crew-13 will remain in quarantine at Johnson Space Center in Houston before flying to Kennedy Space Center about a week before their planned launch date, although an exact target date and time has yet to be announced.

They had recently left Florida having completed a crew equipment interface test, putting on spacesuits and entering the Dragon spacecraft where teams checked for suit leaks and made sure the hatch fit with a good seal.

They will join Expedition 75 on board the station, which has been continuously crewed more than 25 years since 2000.

Awaiting their arrival is the quartet of Crew-12, which has been in orbit since February. They will make their return to Earth after a short handover period during which the population of the space station will climb to 11.

Crew-12 commander, NASA’s Jessica Meir, said this week during a media call that she’s most looking forward to seeing her 3 1/2-year-old daughter again.

“Our loved ones are the things that we miss the most,” she said. “I’m so looking forward to seeing nature again, feeling the breeze on my face, the wind rustling through the leaves, experiencing all those things that we don’t have up here. But I will very, very much miss being weightless all the time and the incredible views that we have.”