--- title: Mike Pence: I Touched NASA Equipment Because Rubio Dared Me description: Mike Pence just explained what made him touch the NASA equipment marked "DO NOT TOUCH": a dare from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio canonical: https://time.com/4849939/mike-pence-nasa-marco-rubio-touch/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-07T19:52:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T06:01:33.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mike Pence Says He Touched NASA Equipment Because Marco Rubio Dared Him og:description: But NASA said there's no apology necessary og:url: https://time.com/4849939/mike-pence-nasa-marco-rubio-touch/ 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: Mike Pence Says He Touched NASA Equipment Because Marco Rubio Dared Him twitter:description: But NASA said there's no apology necessary 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 ---  # Mike Pence Says He Touched NASA Equipment Because Marco Rubio Dared Him > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=e35ad9df-ea18-4ea6-88a2-d57494cc56cc&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:01 AM UTCPublished: Jul 7, 2017 7:52 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 [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:01 AM UTCPublished: Jul 7, 2017 7:52 PM UTC Mike Pence just 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. “Sorry @NASA…@MarcoRubio dared me to do it!” the Vice President tweeted Friday afternoon, accompanied by the now meme-famous photo with everything blurred but Rubio’s face. Rubio responded on Twitter, joking that he warned Pence not to break the equipment. > [](https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/883417608451747841) But NASA says there’s no apology necessary for the incident at the Kennedy Space Center Thursday. “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.” > [](https://twitter.com/VP/status/883408689285214211) Pence’s joking explanation came after the image had been circulating online for hours as people [photoshopped it](http://time.com/4848954/mike-pence-nasa-meme-photoshop-battle/?iid=sr-link2) into different backdrops. Pence even tweeted out one of the doctored images: > [](https://twitter.com/VP/status/883408914196332544) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4849939/mike-pence-nasa-marco-rubio-touch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4849939/mike-pence-nasa-marco-rubio-touch/"},"headline":"Mike Pence Says He Touched NASA Equipment Because Marco Rubio Dared Him","datePublished":"2017-07-07T19:52:15.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T06:01:33.000Z","description":"Mike Pence just explained what made him touch the NASA equipment marked \"DO NOT TOUCH\": a dare from Florida Sen. 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