Stanford alumna Jessica Watkins, ’10, is headed to outer space. The astronaut and geologist is commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Liftoff will be no earlier than 11:10 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 1, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The crew will join the space station’s Expedition 75 crew.

Throughout the long‑duration mission, Watkins and the crew will conduct science experiments to advance research and technology for future moon and Mars missions and improve life on Earth. The crew will fly aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft named Grace.

Crew-13 includes pilot and NASA astronaut Luke Delaney and mission specialists Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.

The launch marks Watkins’ second spaceflight. In 2022, she served as a mission specialist on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the ISS. She spent 170 days in space maintaining the space station and contributing to research on the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body.

Jessica Watkins, center left, will command NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station. | Courtesy NASA

Watkins graduated from Stanford in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in geological and environmental sciences. In a 2022 interview with STANFORD magazine from aboard the space station, she said she became interested in the field after taking courses on planetary materials and what makes a habitable planet.

“I definitely fell in love with it, particularly the idea of planetary geology. The idea of being able to study rocks on the surface of another planet, just absolutely enamored me, and still does to this day,” she said.

At Stanford, Watkins was a star on the women’s rugby team, winning a national championship her sophomore year. She said the experience prepared her for being an astronaut.

“A rugby team requires people of all sizes, shapes, skill sets, strengths in order to be successful,” she told STANFORD magazine. “The NASA team, the human spaceflight team, the international cooperation that is required to do what we do up here every day is exactly like that. We require all kinds of skill sets, expertise, backgrounds in order to come together, pool our resources, and do something that we could not do on our own. Learning that lesson on the rugby pitch is absolutely applicable to being able to be a good teammate up here on the ISS.”

Watkins grew up in Lafayette, Colorado. After graduating from Stanford, she earned a doctorate in geology from UCLA. She joined the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class, completing two years of training as an astronaut candidate. She previously worked at NASA’s Ames Research Center, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and on NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity.

Stanford has graduated 27 astronauts, and more female astronauts than any other civilian university.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 launch will be livestreamed.