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| Crew-13 aboard Grace. Image credit: NASA |
Launch of SpaceX Crew-13
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 1510 UTC, or 1110 local time (EDT). This was carrying SpaceX Crew-13, a Crew Dragon spacecraft (Grace) carrying two Americans, one Canadian, and one Russian to the International Space Station. The spacecraft docked to the forward port of the Harmony module at 2305 UTC, just eight hours after launch, which is a new record for a US spacecraft. Hatch opening will occur after midnight UTC and will be covered in tomorrow's report. This was the 692nd flight of the Falcon 9, the 2nd flight of Crew Dragon Grace, and the 3rd flight of booster B1101, which performed a boostback burn and successfully landed at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zone 40. [Source: SpaceX]
The crew will join Expedition 75, and are expected to remain on the station for around five months. The mission commander is NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, a geologist who got her start at NASA working on various robotic Mars missions. This is her second spaceflight; she previously flew on SpaceX Crew-4 back in 2022, when she became the first Black woman to serve on a long-duration ISS mission, and as of today she is the first person to fly on two different Crew Dragon missions. The mission's pilot is NASA astronaut Luke Delaney, who became a test pilot for NASA after retiring from the Marine Corps. This is his first spaceflight. The first of the two mission specialists is Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Joshua Kutryk. He joined the CSA after a career as a test pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force. This is also his first spaceflight. And finally, the second mission specialist is Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. Before being selected as a cosmonaut, he worked as a submarine engineer for the Russian Navy. This is his first spaceflight as well. The three first-timers are jointly the 649th people to achieve orbit, the 744th people to fly above 100km (the FAI definition of space), and the 785th people to fly above 50mi (the US definition of space). There are now 14 people in orbit: five Americans, four Russians, three Chinese, one Canadian, and one French. There are also currently five women in orbit, matching the record first set in 2022. [Source: NASA]
Launch of Transporter-18
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg in California at 1832 UTC, or 1132 local time (PDT). This was Transporter-18, the latest SpaceX rideshare mission carrying a reported 130 payloads to Sun-synchronous orbit, including satellites for communication, Earth observation, medical manufacturing, technology demonstrations, orbital servicing, and orbital transfers. The full launch manifest can be found beneath the "read more" break. This was the 693rd flight of the Falcon 9, and the 25th flight of booster B1082, which performed a boostback burn and successfully landed at Vandenberg's Landing Zone 4. [Source: SpaceX]
UPDATE: An RK-IM suborbital spaceflight took place on this day. See 6th October 2026 for details.
Transporter-18 full launch manifest
The following 71 objects were deployed directly from the Falcon 9 upper stage according to SpaceX's launch timeline, and are now in orbit. A further 41 payloads will be deployed later by four transfer vehicles and Varda's two manufactories for a total of 112 payloads accounted for. This leaves 18 unaccounted for, which are probably all non-separating payloads attached to other objects. [Source: SpaceX]
| Payload | Operator | Country |
|---|---|---|
| AE4La | ArkEdge Space | Japan |
| F2G1 | BAE Systems | United Kingdom |
| Baby Bird | Blackwing Space | United States |
| Element 1 | CesiumAstro | United States |
| Jack-006 | Cosmoworks | South Korea |
| Reason 1 | Cowboy Space | United States |
| LEAP-2 | Dhruva Space | India |
| Bob | D-Orbit | Italy |
| Kevin | ||
| Stuart | ||
| ION SCV Absolute Andreas | ||
| ION SCV Alluring Alexander | ||
| ION SCV Empowering Ekaterina | ||
| GOMX-5 | European Space Agency | Europe |
| Watchdog v0-A | Fortastra | United States |
| Watchdog v0-MK | ||
| GHGSat C18 Eleanor | GHGSat | Canada |
| GHGSat C19 Aidan | ||
| Project Suncatcher M1 | United States | |
| ICEYE 1 | ICEYE | Finland |
| ICEYE 2 | ||
| ICEYE 3 | ||
| ICEYE 4 | ||
| IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-17 | Italian Space Agency | Italy |
| IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-18 | ||
| IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-19 | ||
| IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-20 | ||
| IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-21 | ||
| IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-22 | ||
| IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-23 | ||
| IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-24 | ||
| Kensat | Ken Chan | Malaysia |
| Meridian FCL | Meridian Space | United States |
| Crimson-1 | Nanyang Technological University | Singapore |
| GyeonggiSat-2A | Nara Space | South Korea |
| ASCENT Propulsion Dual Mode | NASA | United States |
| Terra Nova | NordSpace | Canada |
| Altair 1 | Orbitworks | United Arab Emirates |
| FOREST-20 Araucaria | OroraTech | Germany |
| GuaraniSat-2 | Paraguayan Space Agency | Paraguay |
| Gnomes 10 | PlanetiQ | United States |
| Flock 4J-17 | Planet Labs | United States |
| Flock 4J-18 | ||
| Tanager 2 | ||
| Sateliot 5 | Sateliot | Spain |
| Sateliot 6 | ||
| Sateliot 7 | ||
| Sateliot 8 | ||
| Sateliot 9 | ||
| Merlin 1 | Satellogic | United States |
| ÑuSat 56 | ||
| ÑuSat 57 | ||
| ÑuSat 64 | ||
| Lemur-2 Mdqureshi | Spire | United States |
| Lemur-2 Varun | ||
| Lemur-2 WhiteHotCrew | ||
| Protostar | Star Catcher | United States |
| SSPICY Otter | Starfish Space | United States |
| HotSat 3 | Surrey Satellite Technology | United Kingdom |
| eLEAF-01 | Terramira | Netherlands |
| Tomorrow-S12 | Tomorrow.io | United States |
| Tomorrow-S13 | ||
| OSSIE | UARX Space | Spain |
| UASAT-NANO | UASAT | Ukraine |
| SPRITE | University of Colorado | United States |
| ATHENE 1 | University of the Bundeswehr Munich | Germany |
| BRO 23 | Unseen Labs | France |
| BRO 32 | ||
| W-8 | Varda Space | United States |
| W-9 | ||
| HERMES | Not yet identified | |
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