NASA and SpaceX delay Crew-13 launch after Dragon oxidiser leak
NASA and SpaceX are adjusting the launch date for the Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station after detecting an oxidiser leak in the propulsion system of the Dragon spacecraft during routine pre-launch processing.
Joint teams from NASA and SpaceX are carrying out additional tests and reviewing data to determine whether the spacecraft requires further work. NASA said a new launch target would be announced once the assessment is complete.
The mission had been scheduled to launch no earlier than 12 September from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Dragon spacecraft is due to fly aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Crew-13 will carry NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov to the station. Watkins will serve as spacecraft commander, Delaney as pilot, and Kutryk and Teteryatnikov as mission specialists.
After docking with the orbiting laboratory, the four-person crew will join Expedition 75. NASA said the astronauts are expected to enter quarantine at the agency’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston approximately two weeks before launch, once a revised flight date has been established.
Crew-13 is the 13th crew-rotation mission operated by SpaceX for NASA and the 14th flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying people, including the programme’s Demo-2 test flight.
For Kutryk, the mission will mark his first spaceflight. The Canadian Space Agency has said he will become the fourth Canadian astronaut to take part in a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station and the first Canadian to fly there through NASA’s Commercial Crew Programme.
