Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-23791
President John F. Kennedy (at lectern) delivers remarks, following a tour of spacecraft displays inside a hangar at the Rich Building of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas. President Kennedy holds a scale model of the Apollo command module, presented to him by Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Dr. Robert Gilruth; a mock-up of the lunar lander (also known as "the Bug") sits at left in background. Standing in back: Director of Operations for Project Mercury, Dr. Walter C. Williams; Naval Aide to the President, Captain Tazewell T. Shepard, Jr.; Senator Alexander Wiley (Wisconsin); Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; Dr. Gilruth; White House Secret Service agent, Ron Pontius. Photographers observe at right. The President visited the Center as part of a two-day inspection tour National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) field installations. [See also MO 63.1913, "Model of Apollo Command Module"]