--- title: Mike Pence NASA Photo Launches Photoshop Meme Battle Photos description: A photo of Mike Pence touching a piece of NASA equipment with the sign "do not touch" has inspired a viral meme Photoshop battle. canonical: https://time.com/4848954/mike-pence-nasa-meme-photoshop-battle/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-07T15:17:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T06:02:20.000Z og:title: The Internet Is Having a Field Day With This Photo of Pence og:description: Mike Pence's disregard for Do Not Touch signs launched a funny Photoshop battle og:url: https://time.com/4848954/mike-pence-nasa-meme-photoshop-battle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt656d7fa69fabfc51/6988d4d086f68eeee16e5777/mike-pence-nasa-touch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: mike-pence-nasa-touch og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Is Having a Field Day With This Photo of Pence twitter:description: Mike Pence's disregard for Do Not Touch signs launched a funny Photoshop battle twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt656d7fa69fabfc51/6988d4d086f68eeee16e5777/mike-pence-nasa-touch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Photo of Mike Pence Touching NASA Equipment Marked 'Do Not Touch' Launches Hilarious Photoshop Battle > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a4b85b25-2735-4373-897f-686e7c865fda&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump and King Salman Open New Center to Combat Extremism [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump and King Salman Open New Center to Combat Extremism](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EzGN1eBA.m3u8) (1:30)  _Published 2017-05-22. President Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman open a new center in Riyadh dedicated to monitor and combat extremism._ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:02 AM UTCPublished: Jul 7, 2017 3:17 PM UTC  Vice President Mike Pence is shown a piece of hardware by Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana during a tour of the Operations and Checkout Building in Florida, July 6, 2017. Vice President Mike Pence is shown a piece of hardware by Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana during a tour of the Operations and Checkout Building in Florida, July 6, 2017. Mike Brown—Reuters by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:02 AM UTCPublished: Jul 7, 2017 3:17 PM UTC [Vice President Mike Pence](http://time.com/4787061/mike-pence-notre-dame-protest-walkout/) is learning the hard way to respect “Do Not Touch” signs. [Pence](http://time.com/4606111/mike-pence-is-no-ordinary-wingman/) touched a piece of space flight hardware at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, and the photo has gone viral and predictably launched a hilarious [Photoshop battle](http://new.time.com/4841379/emmanuel-macrons-photoshop-battle/). Perhaps the rules change when you’re Vice President, because Pence pressed his palm right near the sign on the Orion clean room equipment — despite the fact that the sign was in plain view. It’s possible the warning did not apply to him under the conditions, which is why he flew his hand so close to the sun. Reuters photographer Mike Brown was there to capture the moment, and people are spreading the snapshot with all the jokes about rule-breaking. One user even compared the moment to viral shot of Trump touching that ubiquitous glowing orb. It took off on Twitter. > [](https://twitter.com/wecanbanewforce/status/883144246966050816) > [](https://twitter.com/flyosity/status/883127663505833984) > [](https://twitter.com/coylums/status/883133657216671748) > [](https://twitter.com/Melangetic/status/883174104177758210) > [](https://twitter.com/Boblex/status/883151542982979584) > [](https://twitter.com/MsAmaris/status/883161527557214208) Pence was there to give remarks to Kennedy’s workforce, but because the internet is the internet, his visit inevitably gave us a Reddit Photoshop battle where people really kicked the joke fest up a notch with photo editing. Perhaps Pence defying MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This,” wins. > [](https://twitter.com/Durf/status/883225849440247808) Pence even got in on the fun, sharing the edited images that had been making the rounds as people [had endless fun Photoshopping it](http://time.com/4848954/mike-pence-nasa-meme-photoshop-battle/?iid=sr-link2). > [](https://twitter.com/VP/status/883408914196332544) He also explained what made him [touch the NASA equipment](http://time.com/4848951/mike-pence-nasa-do-not-touch/?iid=sr-link1) marked “DO NOT TOUCH”: a dare from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. > [](https://twitter.com/VP/status/883408689285214211) Rubio joined the conversation on Twitter, joking that he warned Pence not to break the equipment. > [](https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/883417608451747841) But NASA made a statement later letting everyone know that no apology was necessary for the contact at the center. “The ‘do not touch’ signs are there as a day-to-day reminder, including the one visible on the titanium Forward Bay Cover for the Orion spacecraft,” NASA said in a statement provided to TIME. “Procedures require the hardware to be cleaned before tiles are bonded to the spacecraft, so touching the surface is okay. Otherwise, the hardware would have had a protective cover over it like the thermal heat shield, which was nearby.” ## Transcript [01:02] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [01:03] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4848954/mike-pence-nasa-meme-photoshop-battle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4848954/mike-pence-nasa-meme-photoshop-battle/"},"headline":"Photo of Mike Pence Touching NASA Equipment Marked 'Do Not Touch' Launches Hilarious Photoshop Battle","datePublished":"2017-07-07T15:17:14.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T06:02:20.000Z","description":"A photo of Mike Pence touching a piece of NASA equipment with the sign \"do not touch\" has inspired a viral meme Photoshop battle.","url":"https://time.com/4848954/mike-pence-nasa-meme-photoshop-battle/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","viral","Mike Pence","memes","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt656d7fa69fabfc51/6988d4d086f68eeee16e5777/mike-pence-nasa-touch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt656d7fa69fabfc51/6988d4d086f68eeee16e5777/mike-pence-nasa-touch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"mike-pence-nasa-touch","caption":"Vice President Mike Pence is shown a piece of hardware by Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana during a tour of the Operations and Checkout Building in Florida, July 6, 2017.","creditText":"Mike Brown—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4848954/mike-pence-nasa-meme-photoshop-battle/","name":"Photo of Mike Pence Touching NASA Equipment Marked 'Do Not Touch' Launches Hilarious Photoshop Battle"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump and King Salman Open New Center to Combat Extremism","description":"President Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman open a new center in Riyadh dedicated to monitor and combat extremism.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EzGN1eBA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-05-22T14:08:58.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EzGN1eBA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4848954/mike-pence-nasa-meme-photoshop-battle/","duration":"PT1M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4848954/mike-pence-nasa-meme-photoshop-battle/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```