NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 crew arrived at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, where a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft were ready for launch, the agency reported on Oct. 1, 2026. The crew was expected to ride the pad's elevator up the fixed service structure and walk through the air-conditioned crew access arm to the White Room before boarding the Dragon spacecraft.

The pad, known as "Slick Forty," was built by the U.S. Air Force and supported its first launch, a Titan IIIC, in June 1965, followed by Titan rockets for the next forty years. SpaceX began leasing the complex in 2007 and launched its first Falcon 9 from it in 2010. Its milestones include the first crewed mission from the pad with Crew-9 in 2024 and the addition of Landing Zone 40, which saw its first booster landing after the Crew-12 launch in February.

According to the report, liftoff was slated for about three hours later, at 11:10 a.m. EDT.