NASA outlined the milestones for its SpaceX Crew-13 mission ahead of a planned launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. In a blog post published on October 1, 2026, the agency said the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft were scheduled to launch at 11:10 a.m. EDT, about four hours after the post went up. Crew preparations were set to begin at 7:00 a.m. with suit donning and checkouts, followed by the crew's walkout from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building at 7:40 a.m. and arrival at the pad at 8:05 a.m.

The schedule called for the crew to enter Dragon at 8:34 a.m., conduct communications and suit leak checks, and close the hatch by 9:15 a.m. SpaceX's launch director was slated to verify go for propellant loading at 10:25 a.m., with the crew access arm retracting three minutes later and Dragon's launch escape system armed at 10:31 a.m. Propellant loading was to begin at 10:35 a.m.

After liftoff, the timeline listed Max Q at 11:11 a.m., first stage main engine cutoff and stage separation at 11:12 a.m., and first stage landing at 11:17 a.m. Dragon was scheduled to separate from the second stage at 11:19 a.m., with the nosecone opening sequence beginning a minute later.