World News Update: SpaceX launches Crew-13 from Cape Canaveral, Florida; booster B1101 lands on LZ-40

Launch: Falcon 9 / NASA SpaceX Crew-13 (after liftoff)

Rocket

SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 / NASA SpaceX Crew-13

Launch site

Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Florida

Time (CT)

Liftoff at 10:10 a.m. CT Thursday, Oct. 1 (T-0 10:10:06 a.m. CT / 11:10 a.m. EDT / 15:10:06 UTC). Landing Zone 40 touchdown about 10:18 a.m. CT (T-0 + 7:41 on the Launch Library 2 timeline).

Result

Launch Successful (Launch Library 2). Crew Dragon Grace is on its way to the International Space Station. Booster B1101 landed successfully at Landing Zone 40 (RTLS) after its third flight.

Cargo

Crew Dragon Grace with four astronauts/cosmonauts bound for the International Space Station (NASA Commercial Crew Program): Commander Jessica Watkins (NASA), Pilot Luke Delaney (NASA), Mission Specialist Joshua Kutryk (Canadian Space Agency), and Mission Specialist Sergey Teteryatnikov (Roscosmos).

Booster

B1101, third flight (reused). Landed successfully at Landing Zone 40 (LZ-40), Cape Canaveral — return-to-launch-site.

Our view Another step toward Mars: a reused Falcon 9 and a human-rated Crew Dragon just delivered another NASA Commercial Crew rotation to LEO — the same reusable flight cadence and human-spaceflight ops culture SpaceX needs for Starship missions that will eventually carry people to Mars.

NASA’s mission page listed Crew-13 liftoff at 11:10 a.m. EDT Oct. 1. Launch Library 2 records status Launch Successful with B1101 landing at LZ-40. NPR reported the Falcon 9 lofted the four-person crew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station toward a roughly eight-hour chase to dock with the station.

Before liftoff: our earlier World News Update on Crew-13

World news since the morning launch window

• Flydubai cockpit attack: identity and motive still unconfirmed Israeli and U.S. officials continued to treat Wednesday’s Dubai-to-Tel Aviv Flydubai incident as a foiled cockpit attack after an Omani copilot allegedly stabbed the captain and the jet plunged thousands of feet before passengers and crew helped regain control for an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, the Associated Press reported. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the captain’s response a prevented “9/11 disaster”; Flydubai has suspended Israel flights while investigators work. (Associated Press via The Hill, NPR)
• Trump says U.S. must choose: ‘blow them up or make a deal’ with Iran President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that Washington must decide whether to escalate further or negotiate with Iran, saying, “We have to make that decision: We blow them up or make a deal,” and that the confrontation would end “very soon, one way or the other,” Politico and Firstpost reported. Tehran said it had received a formal U.S. response to its Hormuz / nuclear-talks proposal even as public rhetoric hardened. (Politico, Firstpost)
• Pakistan airstrikes in Afghanistan: Kabul says civilians killed; Islamabad says militants hit Pakistan carried out overnight airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Helmand provinces. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at least nine people were killed and 11 wounded, including women and children; Pakistan’s Information Ministry said the strikes hit Pakistan Taliban and Balochistan Liberation Army hideouts and that initial reports suggested 22 militants were killed, Al Jazeera reported with Reuters. (Al Jazeera / Reuters, Al Arabiya / Reuters)

Earlier: the full 6 AM World Brief

Before liftoff Crew-13 update