Tomorrow is going to be a big SpaceX day here on what's called Florida's Space Coast with two launches. The Crew-13 flight to the International Space Station is set for 11:10:06 AM EDT from SLC-40 (right - that's 6 seconds after 11:10 AM) and just under 13 hours later a rare Falcon Heavy mission is set to liftoff from Pad-39A at 11:53 PM. The two Falcon Heavy boosters will return to SpaceX's Landing Zones 1 and 2, while the core booster (all three are Falcon 9s) will continue to carry the payload, NROL-97, to orbital insertion.
Crew-13 will launch NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, Luke Delaney and crewmates Josh Kutryk ( of Canada) and Sergey Teteryatnikov (of Russia) on a six-month mission to the International Space Station. They will join three core members of the station's Expedition 75 crew, already aboard the station, as well as the four soon-to-depart meembers of NASA's Crew-12 astronauts, who will soon return to Earth on their own SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
The Falcon Heavy mission Thursday night is to launch NROL-97, a satellite for National Reconnaissance Office (NRO); naturally, they won't say anything about the exact payload or its mission, but they have a pretty webpage with a picture of the mission patch and explanation of the symbology.
The mission patch serves as a tribute to the lives and sacrifices remembered on September 11, 2001, embodying NRO’s unwavering commitment to protect our warfighters, defend freedom, and help build a safer world. The lighthouse characterizes enduring strength and the ability to provide information to those in need, even in difficult times. The endpoints of the light beam align to the locations of 9 and 11 on a clock face in honor of the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Four prominent stars represent the four aircraft lost on 9/11, and the moon phase is shown as it appeared on September 11, 2026. Download the NROL-97 Poster
The weather forecast for the missions isn't in the "nearly perfect" category but still better chances than random 50/50 odds. Space.com quotes, "forecasts call for a 55% change of conditions good enough to allow a launch." I just looked at the source and it's a bit higher (65%) but either number can only be considered a guideline - which is why the weather is monitored throughout the countdown. If Crew-13 does scrub tomorrow, the next launch window will be Friday (Oct. 2) at 10:47 a.m. EDT (1447 GMT).
Falcon 9 with Crew-13's Dragon stacked on SLC-40. Image credit: SpaceX.
Interestingly and unrelatedly, there's also a Falcon 9 mission from Vandenberg SFB between these two launches. The Transporter 18 mission, a SpaceX rideshare mission, lifts off at 2:18PM EDT. A busy day, even by the current SpaceX standards.
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