NASA and SpaceX have delayed the upcoming Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station after detecting an oxidizer leak on the Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system during prelaunch processing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, according to joint updates from the space agency and private aerospace contractor.
Propulsion Anomaly Triggers Prelaunch Standdown
The technical glitch was uncovered during standard prelaunch spacecraft processing at Space Launch Complex 40, forcing teams to hit the brakes on a flight that had been targeted for mid-September 2026. The oxidizer leak specifically affects the propulsion system of the selected Dragon capsule, introducing variables that require immediate engineering intervention before flight certification can resume.
Joint teams from NASA and SpaceX are currently reviewing telemetry data, running additional diagnostic tests, and performing necessary rework on the hardware. Neither organization has released a firm target date for rescheduling the launch, leaving the timeline fluid as engineers prioritize hardware reliability.
International Flight Manifest and Expedition 75 Rotations
Contracted under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, the Crew-13 mission is designed to ferry a four-person multinational crew to the orbiting laboratory, where they will integrate into the space station’s Expedition 75 operations. The roster brings together representatives from multiple space agencies for a multi-month stint of microgravity research and station maintenance.
NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, a geologist and veteran of spaceflight selected in 2017, is slated to command the mission. She is joined by pilot Luke Delaney, a naval aviator and NASA astronaut selected in 2022. Rounding out the four-person crew are mission specialists Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency—marking a first for a CSA astronaut in the Commercial Crew Program—and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
Prior to liftoff atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the flight members are scheduled to complete a two-week quarantine protocol originating from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Operational Impacts and Next Steps
While teams work through the data review and component checks for the Dragon capsule, the immediate priority remains isolating the source of the oxidizer leak within the propulsion architecture.
NASA has stated that a new target launch date will be announced once engineering teams complete their diagnostic evaluations and verify that all necessary component rework meets mission safety standards.
