Donald Trump’s partner VP Mike Pence visited the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and delivered a promise to "put American boots on the face of Mars." Pence said Trump would be NASA’s “champion”:
"The American space program has a champion in the President of the United States," Pence said, adding that the White House plans to "usher in a new era" of American space leadership.
A noble but familiar goal, it echoes President Obama’s space push:
That's one of the reasons why, in my first address as President to the American people, I vowed to return science to its rightful place. In our first few months, my administration made the largest single investment in basic research in our history, and I went to the Kennedy Space Center to call for reimagining and reinvigorating our space program to explore more of our solar system and look deeper into the universe than ever.
No word on how Trump-Pence would “usher in a new era” of American space leadership while massively cutting federal taxes. That is a magical unicorn to tackle another day.
Anyway, getting back to Pence’s NASA visit, he was photographed taking a tour of the Kennedy Space Center and one photo in particular gained the interest of an attentive audience on Twitter:
That’s right. Mike Pence flatly laid his whole hand on a piece of equipment with a very visible sign reading “Critical Space Flight Hardware—DO NOT TOUCH” in bold red letters. Once internet users picked their jaws up off the ground, the hilarious memes and responses began to fly.
In the pic below, Pence is comparing his hand to the president’s hand!
No word on how much Pence’s mistake will cost U.S. taxpayers or whether it put a space project on hold.