Mike Pence ignores 'do not touch' sign, touches NASA equipment

Vice President Mike Pence, right, gets a tour of the Orion spacecraft clean room with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., by Bob Cabana, director of the Kennedy Space Center, center, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Thursday, July 6, 2017. Pence is leading a newly revived National Space Council. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

Credit: Red Huber

Credit: Red Huber

Vice President Mike Pence, right, gets a tour of the Orion spacecraft clean room with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., by Bob Cabana, director of the Kennedy Space Center, center, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Thursday, July 6, 2017. Pence is leading a newly revived National Space Council. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

Vice President Mike Pence got the internet’s attention Thursday after he was photographed touching a piece of critical space flight hardware clearly marked with a “do not touch” sign during a tour of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

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Pence was with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, and Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabena when they spotted the hardware in the Orion spacecraft clean room. Pence is leading a newly revived National Space Council, according to The Associated Press.

The original photo was shot by Reuters photographer Mike Brown, according to Gizmodo. It inspired a flurry of memes from dumbfounded internet users.