SpaceX Crew-13 has reached the International Space Station (ISS) in just 7 hours and 55 minutes after launching from Florida, setting a new record for the fastest journey from launch to docking by a US spacecraft.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft docked with the ISS at 4:35 am IST on October 2. NASA said the mission surpassed the previous US record of 12 hours and 33 minutes, achieved by SpaceX’s robotic Dragon cargo spacecraft during the CRS-31 resupply mission in November 2024. The previous fastest journey by astronauts aboard a US spacecraft was Crew-11’s 14-hour-43-minute trip in August 2025.
Why Crew-13 reached the ISS so quickly
The unusually short journey was largely due to the position of the ISS when Crew-13 launched. Julianna Scheiman, director of NASA science and Dragon programmes at SpaceX, said the station was in an especially favourable position, allowing mission controllers to use a trajectory close to the fastest physically possible route.
However, Crew-13 does not hold the overall record for the fastest human journey to the ISS. That record belongs to a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which carried three astronauts to the station in just 3 hours and 3 minutes in May 2020.
The difference comes mainly from the flight trajectories selected for missions rather than simply the speed of the spacecraft.
Four astronauts begin six-month ISS mission
Crew-13 carried four astronauts: NASA’s Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
The crew is expected to spend approximately six months aboard the ISS, conducting scientific research and supporting station operations.
They will replace the Crew-12 astronauts, who arrived at the station in February. NASA officials said the Crew-12 members could return to Earth as early as October 5.
The record-setting arrival highlights how precisely launch timing, orbital mechanics and mission planning can work together. In spaceflight, sometimes even the station’s position at the right moment can turn a long journey into a surprisingly short one.
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