The Daily Broadcast: Crew-13 Launch Slips, Roman Telescope Readies for Liftoff

Crew-13 Launch Slips After Oxidizer Leak Detected

NASA and SpaceX have adjusted the launch date for the Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station after an oxidizer leak was detected on Dragon’s propulsion system during standard prelaunch spacecraft processing. Joint NASA and SpaceX teams are performing additional tests and data review and will complete any necessary rework prior to launch. A new target date has not yet been announced.

NASA, SpaceX Adjust Crew-13 Launch Datejsc2026e406664 (Aug. 5, 2026) — The four members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station display their mission plaque inside a… | Source: NASA

The four-person crew includes CSA astronaut Joshua Kutryk, who will serve as a mission specialist. He is joined by NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, the spacecraft commander, and Luke Delaney, the pilot, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, also a mission specialist. After arriving at the orbiting laboratory, Crew-13 will become members of Expedition 75.

Crew-13 will lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The crew entered quarantine about two weeks prior to flight from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Roman Space Telescope Poised for Sunday Launch

Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s next ‘great observatory,’ poised for Sunday launch August 29, 2026 William Harwood Artist’s illustration of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Credit: NASA’s Goddard… | Source: Spaceflight Now

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch today aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The $4.3 billion mission will deploy the agency’s next “great observatory” to an orbit at the L2 Lagrange Point, where it will join the James Webb Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory in using infrared light to peer through dust and observe distant structures.

Roman uses a donated Hubble-class mirror originally built for a spy satellite. Its 300-megapixel wide-field camera will capture images at a scale no previous NASA spacecraft has achieved — officials say a single full-resolution image would cover 45 city blocks or the entirety of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

The telescope will scan broad swaths of the cosmos 1,000 times faster than the Hubble Space Telescope, collecting as much data in one month as its older cousin could manage in a century. Over its five-year primary mission, Roman will downlink approximately 2,500 terabytes of data, compared to Hubble’s roughly 172 terabytes over 30 years.

The launch is targeted for 11:26 UTC from Launch Complex 39A.

Citations

“Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s next ‘great observatory,’ poised for Sunday launch” — https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/08/29/roman-space-telescope-nasas-next-great-observatory-poised-for-sunday-launch/
“NASA, SpaceX set to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from Florida on Sunday” — https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/08/roman-telescope-launch/
“NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Go for Launch, Five Years of Discovery” — https://www.spacescout.info/2026/08/nasas-roman-space-telescope-go-for-launch/
“NASA, SpaceX Adjust Crew-13 Launch Date” — https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/08/29/nasa-spacex-adjust-crew-13-launch-date/

Owl Around The World (StriX Launch 11)

Provider: Rocket Lab
Date: August 31, 2026
Time: 12:05 PM UTC
Vehicle: Electron

Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.

Demo Flight

Provider: Galactic Energy
Date: September 1, 2026
Time: 2:00 AM UTC
Vehicle: Pallas-1

First test launch of Galactic Energy’s Pallas-1 rocket.

Starlink Group 15-23

Provider: SpaceX
Date: September 2, 2026
Time: 7:46 AM UTC
Vehicle: Falcon 9

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation – SpaceX’s project for space-based Internet communication system.

GISAT-1A (EOS-05)

Provider: Indian Space Research Organization
Date: September 3, 2026
Time: 9:25 PM UTC
Vehicle: GSLV Mk II

GISAT-1A (GEO Imaging Satellite) is an Indian earth observing satellite operating from geostationary orbit to facilitate continuous observation of Indian sub-continent, quick monitoring of natural hazards and disaster.

EOS-05/GISAT-1A will replace EOS-03/GISAT-1 lost in launch failure in 2021.

Onward and Upward

Provider: Isar Aerospace
Date: September 4, 2026
Time: 8:00 PM UTC
Vehicle: Spectrum

Second test flight of the Isar Spectrum launch vehicle. This launch will carry 5 cubesats and 1 non-separable experiment as part of European Space Agency (ESA)’s “Boost!” program:

* CyBEEsat (TU Berlin)
* TriSat-S (University of Maribor)
* Platform 6 (EnduroSat)
* FramSat-1 (NTNU)
* SpaceTeamSat1 (TU Wien Space Team)
* Let It Go (Dcubed, non-separable experiment)