SpaceX and NASA Delay ISS Mission Due to Dragon Spacecraft Oxidizer Leak

NASA and SpaceX have delayed the Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station after detecting an oxidizer leak in the Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system during standard prelaunch processing, NASA said Aug. 29. Joint NASA and SpaceX teams are conducting additional tests and reviewing data, with necessary rework to be completed before launch. NASA has not announced a new target date. Crew-13 is led by NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, joined by Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. The mission was scheduled to launch no earlier than Sept. 12 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The delay followed SpaceX’s successful Aug. 30 launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope aboard a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center. NASA has provided no evidence linking the Crew-13 propulsion issue to the Roman launch, which used different launch hardware entirely today.