"I mentioned it was 41-C that originally was STS-13, and my friend Jim Beggs, who was the administrator of NASA, had triskaidekaphobia, and he said, 'There's not going to be [another] Apollo 13 or a Shuttle 13, so come up with a new numbering system.'"
"We were joking a lot about being number 113. To play it safe, the mission patch used Roman numerals (CXIII)."
"Many people have superstitious beliefs. That's why I think that it is a good idea to change the number of the next space ship."
NASA initially avoided the number 13 for shuttle missions due to superstition, implementing a complex numbering system after STS-9. This system was later reverted to simple numerical designations after the Challenger disaster. The 13th crewed expedition to the International Space Station began in 2006, coinciding with the anniversary of Apollo 13. The Russian space program also faced similar superstitions regarding the number 13, with suggestions to skip it for certain missions.
Read at Ars Technica
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