To a degree. :-)
I remember on a second must not fail launch (the first one failed), it became almost taboo to shave about 4 weeks prior to launch. The whole flight team, including managers, were sporting a Van Dyke! LOL!
p.s. The launch and subsequent mission was a success.
I understand that the newest NASA budget has gone up a bit, and I think I've read that some of their funds are being shifted from the shuttle program to other areas of research -- basic research. Not a bad idea, really. The shuttle is old stuff.
Legend has it that Niels Bohr kept a horseshoe on his office wall. When asked why it was there, he would say that it was for luck. When the questioner would inevitably object that Prof. Bohr surely didn't believe in such a superstition, Bohr would reply that that was of no consequence, as he had been assured that it would work whether he believed in it or not.