With new patch design, the Crew-13 astronauts clearly aren't superstitious

NASA’s Crew-13 astronauts unveiled a patch that jokingly embraces the unlucky number 13.

The article revisits how NASA and Russian space officials have sometimes changed mission names or numbers to avoid superstition.

Past cases include STS-13, STS-41-C, Apollo 13, and later shuttle missions whose numbering was influenced by fear of bad luck.

The piece shows that even highly technical space planning has long been shaped by triskaidekaphobia and mission symbolism.