NASA and SpaceX announced on August 29 that the Crew-13 mission, previously scheduled for September 12, has been delayed indefinitely after an oxidizer leak (N2O4) was detected in the propulsion system of the Dragon spacecraft during standard prelaunch processing.
"Joint NASA and SpaceX teams are performing additional tests and data review and will complete any necessary rework prior to launch," NASA said in a statement. "A new target date will be announced once available."
The Dragon spacecraft, named Grace, has flown one previous mission. The crew — Commander Jessica Watkins, Pilot Luke Delaney (both NASA), Joshua Kutryk (Canadian Space Agency), and Sergey Teteryatnikov (Roscosmos) — was preparing for a seven-month stay aboard the station.
The delay comes during a busy period for SpaceX, which just launched NASA's Roman Space Telescope on a Falcon Heavy and is preparing for the 14th test flight of its Starship megarocket, targeted for mid-September. The Crew-13 delay is the second significant SpaceX scheduling disruption in recent weeks, following a Starship Flight 13 abort in July.
