NASA says ISS transporter fault could complicate Crew-13 docking
The ISS transporter Canadarm2 rides on is throwing errors; NASA is checking if its parked spot could disrupt Crew-13's Dragon docking.
updates
- 2026-09-29score 1 → 4Ars Technica carries NASA's statement: Canadarm2 is operating as expected and inspecting Crew-12's Dragon, while the transporter's communication errors are being troubleshot at Worksite 6 before the Crew-13 launch.
what happened
NASA said non-robotic components of the ISS's mobile transporter began exhibiting communication errors after a routine "walk-off" maneuver discovered Sunday, September 27, per Ars Technica as reported by Hardware Busters. NASA said Canadarm2 itself "is currently operating as expected" and is being used to inspect the departing Crew-12 Dragon, but the transporter is parked at Worksite 6 and will not be moved again until engineers determine the root cause; NASA and SpaceX are checking whether the parking spot could cause GPS interference with Dragon's approach to the station's forward port for the Crew-13 mission, currently targeting an October 1 launch.
why it matters
A docking-port complication two days before Crew-13's scheduled launch is a live operational risk for NASA's only currently-flying Commercial Crew provider; any delay or reroute affects SpaceX's ISS crew-rotation cadence and the outgoing Crew-12 handover.
for who
ISS program managers and Commercial Crew mission planners