Every time I restart and use a custom name for the ship, I always seem to have the same set of potential crew. Every time I restart and use a preset name, it does not seem to be the case.
Browser, v1.0.4. Also, if I start with a custom name for my ship, not only is my starting crew predetermined, but also the stars that I travel to and the results of my actions, as far as I know. It all started when I decided to press the "new game" button and restart while the screen is still loading as far as I know.
It sounds like there's something weird to do with the way your browser is initialising the seeded random number generator, but I don't know what could be happening or what I could do about it. Playing it in a different browser or clearing your browser's cookies might fix the issue, although you'd also lose your saved game and any high scores. Sorry I can't be of more help.