Many remarked that perhaps superstition was to blame for Apollo 13’s bad luck. It was Apollo 13, after all. Not only that, lift-off was at 13.13 p.m. Houston time. And one of its crew, Jack Swigert, was the 13th astronaut in the Apollo programme. It was Swigert who clicked the switch that led to the explosion on board. Swigert flicked the switch two days after launch, on 13 April.
