NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on October 1, carrying pilot Luke Delaney, a 2006 mechanical engineering graduate of the University of North Florida.

The Falcon 9 rocket launched at 11:10 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 40. The SpaceX Dragon docked with the International Space Station about eight hours later – the quickest US flight to the outpost.

Delaney, a retired US Marine Corps major and naval test pilot, is on his first trip to space. He is joined by commander Jessica Watkins, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. Watkins became the first Black woman to lead a crew to orbit.

The four will live and work aboard the station for six months as part of Expedition 75, conducting research and maintenance.

The mission had been delayed three weeks to replace a leaking valve in the Dragon's propulsion system. A cloudy launch-day forecast cleared enough for liftoff.

At UNF's Science and Engineering Building, a watch party tracked the flight. "Knowing that a UNF alum is doing something that I want to be a part of is very inspiring," said undergraduate astronomy student Gabrielle Forbes.

UNF physics chair Jack Hewitt said Delaney would be an inspiration to current and future students, showing what is possible from the same campus.