‘We were going to clean it anyway’: NASA jokes with Mike Pence over Orion faux pas
NASA has told US Vice President Mike Pence not to apologize for touching its Orion spacecraft – they had planned to clean it anyway.
READ MORE: ‘Dominance in the heavens’: Pushy US VP Pence overrides NASA’s ‘do not touch’ command
Pence, who placed his hands on NASA equipment despite it being clearly labelled “Do not touch” during a tour of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Friday, tried to laugh off the faux pas.
It was OK to touch the surface. Those are just day-to-day reminder signs. We were going to clean it anyway. It was an honor to host you! https://t.co/gu8zxknsJv
— NASA (@NASA) July 7, 2017
Writing on Twitter, the vice president, who was on the tour with Florida Senator Marco Rubio, apologized to NASA before joking that his Republican colleague “dared” him to do it.
Sorry @NASA...@MarcoRubio dared me to do it! pic.twitter.com/qIYtKOPyFh
— Vice President Pence (@VP) July 7, 2017
Pence then took his joke one step further, showing that someone on his team has half-decent Photoshop skills.
Okay...so this isn't exactly the first time this has happened. pic.twitter.com/6Y7b3UlJXe
— Vice President Pence (@VP) July 7, 2017
Rubio got in on the act, too, saying he warned the vice president before putting his hands on the $11 billion machine, “you break it, you own it.”
In fairness, I warned @VP that "you break it, you own it" https://t.co/X5ROcnDVCd
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 7, 2017
Not everyone was bought the light-hearted response, however.
this would be funny if you weren't ruining the country
— Tim Hogan (@timjhogan) July 7, 2017
Watching you try to be charming is cute -- but mostly awkward. Please stop.
— Samantha A Mathers (@sam_mathers) July 8, 2017
Meanwhile, the space agency clarified its policy on touching flight hardware in a statement Friday.
And here is our statement on touching flight hardware. For more information about the @NASA_Orion spacecraft, visit: https://t.co/V2alO9n0Zkpic.twitter.com/maXQ8lri0O
— NASA (@NASA) July 7, 2017
The Orion spacecraft is currently under development and will serve as an exploration vehicle that will play a key role in aiding human exploration of asteroids and Mars in the not-too-distant future.
