Crew 13 Launch Delayed Due To Leak In Crew Dragon

August 30, 2026

1–2 minutes

NASA astronaut and SpaceX Crew‑13 Pilot Luke Delaney sits inside a Dragon spacecraft mockup while tapping a cockpit screen interface during a pre‑flight training session at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Image Credit: SpaceX

NASA and SpaceX have taken the launch date for Crew-13 off the calendar after teams found an oxidizer leak in the Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system. The leak was found during routine prelaunch processing of the capsule. Engineers from both SpaceX and NASA are running additional testing and reviewing the data, and any repair work will be finished before the mission flies. A new target date will be announced once that work is complete.

Crew quarantine starts roughly two weeks ahead of flight at Johnson Space Center in Houston/

The four-person crew is unchanged and remains in training for their upcoming mission. NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney are assigned as spacecraft commander and pilot. They will fly with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, both serving as mission specialists.

Once Dragon reaches the orbiting laboratory, the four will join the station’s Expedition 75.

When Crew-13 launches, the mission will lift off on a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The four members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station display their mission plaque inside a training mockup of a space station module. From left are, Commander Jessica Watkins and Pilot Luke Delaney, both from NASA, and Mission Specialists Joshua Kutryk of CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and Sergey Teteryatnikov of Roscosmos. Image Credit: NASA/Morgan Gridley

Author: Charles Boyer

NASA kid from Cocoa Beach, FL, born of Project Apollo parents and family. I’m a writer and photographer sharing the story of spaceflight from the Eastern Range here in Florida.