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

NASA has assigned its first crew to launch on a mission “13” since Apollo 13 “had a problem” on the way to the Moon 56 years ago. Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney with NASA, Joshua Kutryk with the Canadian Space Agency, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov will lift off for the International Space Station as Crew-13 on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in mid-September. The four will serve as members of the station’s Expedition 75 and 76 crews, before returning to Earth about five months later. “This flight is the 13th crew rotation with SpaceX,” NASA’s announcement read. “The crew will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future exploration missions to the moon and Mars, and benefit people on Earth.” Rather than give in to triskaidekaphobia (the fear or avoidance of 13), the crew is embracing it, or at least their connection to the last US launch to be similarly numbered. The Crew-13 mission patch includes visual nods to the insignia worn by Apollo 13 astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert in April 1970.