SpaceX’s Crew-13 Dragon capsule, named Grace, docked with the International Space Station at 7:05 p.m. EDT on 1 October 2026, 7 hours and 55 minutes after launch. NASA said this was the fastest launch-to-docking of a US spacecraft in the history of the station.

The capsule docked to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module.

Aboard were NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. They lifted off from Florida’s Space Coast earlier the same day and will live and work on the station for about six months, Space.com reported.

NASA’s blog posted the docking notice at 7:13 p.m. EDT, with the arrival time also given as 2305 GMT by Space.com.

Why the trip was short

The previous US mark was 12 hours and 33 minutes, set in November 2024 by a cargo Dragon on the CRS-31 resupply flight. The quickest US flight with people on board before Crew-13 had taken 14 hours and 43 minutes, on the Crew-11 mission in August 2025.

Julianna Scheiman, director of NASA science and Dragon programs at SpaceX, put the record down to the station’s position and orbital mechanics. “We got lucky this time,” she said, as reported by Space.com.

“The space station was in an opportune spot in space,” she said at the post-launch press conference on 1 October 2026, as reported by Space.com. The orbital mechanics worked out for the shortest launch-to-docking time SpaceX had achieved to date, she said, adding that “this is close to the fastest it could be.”

After docking, the crew was to begin standard leak checks and pressurization ahead of hatch opening, which NASA planned for about 8:45 p.m. EDT. The four will relieve the Crew-12 astronauts, who launched in mid-February and could return to Earth in their own Crew Dragon as soon as 5 October 2026, according to NASA officials cited by Space.com.

Crew-12 is made up of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, the European Space Agency’s Sophie Adenot and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.

The Soyuz mark

Space.com pointed to a Russian flight as the faster one. A Soyuz spacecraft carrying three astronauts arrived in May 2020 just 3 hours and 3 minutes after lifting off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the outlet wrote. NASA’s claim for Crew-13 covers US spacecraft only.

Space.com said the Soyuz is no faster than a cargo or crew Dragon capsule.

The difference in chase times comes down mainly to choices made by mission controllers, with Russia tending to target more aggressive “fast-track” trajectories, the outlet said. Crew-13 did not set the overall speed record to the station, Space.com wrote, adding that it was “not even close.”

Grace’s four passengers spent just under eight hours in transit. The Soyuz crew of May 2020 spent a little over three hours.

The Soyuz caught up with the station after two orbits of Earth.

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