SpaceX Crew-13 Launch: 1 Oct 2026 Time in IST

NASA and SpaceX have a new target for the crew that was supposed to fly in September. The company’s Crew-13 page says Falcon 9 will launch Dragon’s thirteenth operational crew mission on Thursday, 1 October 2026, at 11:10 a.m. Eastern, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. A backup is listed for Friday, 2 October, at 10:47 a.m. Eastern. In IST the Thursday target is 20:40, and the Friday backup is 20:17. Space.com reported on 23 September that an oxidizer leak in Dragon’s propulsion system had pushed the flight off an earlier 12 September plan. The launch is a target, not a promise that the weather and the vehicle will agree.

Verification note: Date, time, pad, backup, Dragon flight history, and the booster plan are from spacex.com’s Crew-13 page. The crew names and the docking estimate are from Space.com’s 23 September 2026 report and match the crew list in local Cape coverage the same week. If NASA’s later blog moves the minute, the later blog wins. This page does not invent a new delay.

Times in IST

Florida is on Eastern Daylight Time on 1 October, UTC−4. India is nine hours and thirty minutes ahead.

• Target: Thursday 1 October 2026, 11:10 a.m. EDT, which is 20:40 IST
• Backup: Friday 2 October 2026, 10:47 a.m. EDT, which is 20:17 IST
• Pad: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
• Vehicle: Falcon 9 and a Crew Dragon. SpaceX says this Dragon previously flew Crew-4
• Booster: third flight of the first stage, which previously flew Crew-12 and a Starlink mission. Planned landing is Landing Zone 40 at Cape Canaveral
• Docking, if the 1 October target holds: Space.com reported an arrival around 8 p.m. EDT the same day, which is 05:30 IST on Friday 2 October. That arrival moves if the launch moves

An evening launch in India is a late-morning launch in Florida. Do not convert it as if it were a night launch on the Cape. The stream, if you watch it, is brighter and shorter than people expect from a midnight IST habit built on other missions.

Who is flying, as reported

Space.com’s 23 September account, with a crew portrait, names four people: NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins as commander, NASA astronaut Luke Delaney as pilot, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk as mission specialist, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov as mission specialist. The same report says Watkins previously spent a long increment on the station on Crew-4, and that the other three are on their first spaceflight. Treat that as the published crew. A last-minute medical replacement would be a NASA statement, not a reply under a video. Until that statement exists, these are the four names.

The mission is a long-duration stay. Space.com described about seven months of science and maintenance, joining the crew already on the station. Expedition numbers and the exact handover plan are operational details NASA publishes closer to docking. They are not required to convert the launch clock, and they can change if the launch slips.

Why the date moved

NASA had been aiming at 12 September. On the timeline Space.com reconstructed, an oxidizer leak was found in Dragon’s propulsion system during processing, the September date came off the board, and a new target was set on 22 September for 1 October, with further reviews still required. A target date means the teams are working to that minute. It does not mean the flight readiness review has already waved the vehicle off. If the review or the weather slips the attempt to 2 October, use 20:17 IST and discard Thursday’s alarm. If both attempts slip, there is no third time on the page we read. The next time will be a new NASA or SpaceX note.

How to watch

SpaceX and NASA stream crew launches on their own sites and on NASA’s television channels. The useful stream starts with the weather briefing, not at ignition. For a 20:40 IST liftoff, the last hours of the count fall on Thursday evening in India. Start the official stream by about 20:00 IST if you want the terminal count. A replay later that night is a recording of the same attempt, not a second launch.

Do not use an unofficial stream that asks you to install a player. The official pages are free. A launch scrub is announced on those pages and looks, from outside, like a clock that stops. It is a decision, usually weather or a technical constraint, and the backup date exists for that reason.

What this flight is not

It is not an Artemis lunar launch. NASA’s public architecture notes have moved the next Artemis crew-test planning; they are a different vehicle and a different pad. Mixing Crew-13 with a Moon headline is a category error. It is also not a spacewalk schedule. Any spacewalk during the increment will be planned after the crew is aboard and will have its own date. Cargo flights, including a later Dragon resupply that some Cape calendars list as still tentative, are not this launch. Quote only the crew mission if that is the page you are writing.

See another Florida-and-Texas autumn clock, the Austin Grand Prix later in October, how we separate a confirmed fact from a rumour, and the same habit applied to public results. A launch page that updates the backup time without leaving the old time in the headline is basic publishing; web development is the relevant work.

Target, backup, and the sentence you delete if it slips

Write the launch as a target: 1 October, 11:10 a.m. Eastern, 20:40 IST, SLC-40. Write the backup beside it, not in a footnote: 2 October, 10:47 a.m. Eastern, 20:17 IST. If Thursday scrubs to Friday, delete Thursday from the headline rather than leaving both days looking equally live. If Friday also moves, stop inventing a Saturday. SpaceX’s page listed two opportunities. A third time requires a new note from NASA or SpaceX. The leak that pushed the flight off 12 September, as Space.com reported, is the reason a target still needs a review. “Targeted” is the company’s own verb. Honour it.

The crew names — Watkins, Delaney, Kutryk, Teteryatnikov — come from that 23 September report and the Cape coverage beside it, not from a guess. A medical replacement would be a NASA statement. Docking around 8 p.m. Eastern on launch day, about 05:30 IST the next morning if Thursday’s target holds, is the same report’s estimate and moves one-for-one with the launch. The booster plan is more firmly on the SpaceX page: third flight, previously Crew-12 and a Starlink mission, landing at Landing Zone 40. Dragon on this mission previously flew Crew-4. Those are vehicle facts. They are not a reason to call the flight Artemis. Artemis is a different programme, a different rocket, and a different schedule. Cargo Dragons later in the month are a different contract. Quote the crew launch if the crew launch is what you mean.

Watch the official stream. Start around 20:00 IST on the attempt day so the weather briefing is included. An unofficial player that wants an install is not NASA+. A scrub looks like a clock that stops. It is usually weather or a technical constraint, and the backup exists so the story can continue without a fabricated new minute.

Cape Canaveral in the morning is India in the evening. 11:10 a.m. Eastern is 20:40 IST, which is early enough that a family can watch liftoff without treating it as a midnight event. The backup, 10:47 a.m. Eastern the next day, is 20:17 IST, thirteen minutes earlier on the Indian clock, not an hour earlier. People who “round” both attempts to 9 p.m. will be late on Friday and early on Thursday. Use the minutes SpaceX printed. SLC-40 is on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, not the Kennedy Space Center pad casual coverage sometimes swaps in. The landing zone is LZ-40, beside the range, which is why this attempt does not need a drone ship in the sentence. If a later note moves the landing to a ship, that note will say so. Until then the company’s page is the plan.

FAQ

When is Crew-13 scheduled to launch?

Thursday, 1 October 2026, at 11:10 a.m. Eastern, 20:40 IST, from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral. The backup is Friday, 2 October, at 10:47 a.m. Eastern, 20:17 IST.

Who is on board?

Space.com reported Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney of NASA, Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency, and Sergey Teteryatnikov of Roscosmos. Confirm against a later NASA note if the crew changes.

Why was September missed?

Space.com reported an oxidizer leak in Dragon’s propulsion system that removed a 12 September target. The new target followed additional checks.

Where does the booster land?

SpaceX says the first stage is planned to land at Landing Zone 40 at Cape Canaveral.

Is the docking time fixed?

Space.com reported an arrival around 8 p.m. Eastern if the rocket launches on 1 October. That is about 05:30 IST on 2 October, and it moves if launch moves.

Contact TheTriFusion for a live status page that can survive a scrub.