Crew-13 Launches 4 Astronauts to ISS After Dragon Valve Repair

Q: Why is NASA aiming for its fastest-ever U.S. crew trip to the ISS with Crew-13, and what makes that timeline possible?

NASA is targeting the fastest-ever U.S. crewed trip to the ISS because Crew-13 is using a same-day, rapid rendezvous profile that gets the astronauts aboard the station quickly and starts the handover with Crew-12 sooner. The practical reason is operational efficiency. A shorter transit reduces the time the crew spends confined inside Dragon before beginning station work, and it speeds the overlap period with Crew-12, which is due to return to Earth no earlier than Oct. 5. That helps NASA move more quickly into the long-duration science mission, which includes medical, crop-growth, and crew-health research. What makes the roughly 7-hour, 50-minute timeline possible is a favorable orbital alignment at launch combined with Dragon’s autonomous rendezvous capability and the maturity of NASA-SpaceX Commercial Crew operations. The Falcon 9 and Dragon are launching at a time that lets the spacecraft enter an orbit closely matched to the station’s path, minimizing the phasing time normally needed to catch up to the ISS. Dragon can then perform a sequence of preplanned orbital raises and approach maneuvers to dock the same day. This is not a general speed-up available on every mission. Fast station trips depend on launching into the right orbital geometry, with the station and launch site aligned so the spacecraft can reach the proper orbit quickly. If that alignment holds and on-orbit operations go as planned, Crew-13 will set the U.S. record for fastest crew transit to the ISS.

3 articles · Updated · Ars Technica · Oct 1

A four-person Crew-13 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 15:10 UTC Thursday aboard a Falcon 9 and Dragon for a six-month stay on the International Space Station.
Nine minutes after launch, the spacecraft reached orbit and began its approach for docking later Thursday, ending a mid-September delay caused by a faulty Dragon propulsion-system valve.
Jessica Watkins, 38, commanded the mission and became the first Black woman to command a spacecraft; she is the crew’s only spaceflight veteran after a 170-day ISS mission in 2022.
Luke Delaney piloted the flight, joined by Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, extending NASA’s international crew-rotation partnership on the station.