Expedition 75 received four new crew members in early October when Crew-13 launched and docked to the International Space Station. A Falcon 9 lifted Crew Dragon Grace from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on October 1 at 11:10 AM EDT. The capsule carried NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
Grace docked to the Harmony forward port on October 1 at 23:05 UTC, completing the journey in seven hours and 55 minutes. This marked the fastest arrival to the station for a U.S. spacecraft. Crew-13 will spend approximately six months aboard the lab before undocking in March 2027.
Jessica Meir handed over command to Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov before Crew-12 undocked on October 7 at 12:05 UTC. Crew Dragon Freedom carrying Crew-12 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on October 8 at 08:34 AM PDT.
The Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft departed the station on October 9. It had launched on April 11 aboard a Falcon 9 and delivered 5,000 kg of cargo to Expeditions 74 and 75.
SpaceX launched Commercial Resupply Services 35 on October 13 from SLC-40. The Cargo Dragon docked to the Harmony zenith port on October 15, carrying 1,671 kg of pressurized cargo and 1,195 kg of unpressurized cargo, including a new ISS Roll Out Solar Array (iROSA). Joshua Kutryk and Anil Menon will install the iROSA during spacewalks scheduled for October 29 and November 5.
Aboard the station, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon conducted vein scans in the Columbus module on September 28 for the Venous Flow investigation, which studies potential blood conditions caused by microgravity. Cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina completed a week-long study on October 16 exploring remote robotic operations using an exoskeleton suit and virtual reality.
NASA released its final Request for Proposals on October 9 for the Commercial LEO Destinations program, which will develop successor stations to the ISS. The space agency expects to select approximately two companies in spring 2027 to build and operate commercial stations as the ISS approaches planned decommissioning at the end of 2030. The proposal deadline is December 8.