The White House and the Space Race

Gallery

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After the successful launches of Sputnik I and II, President Dwight D. Eisenhower rapidly advanced the development of the United States space program. Within months, Congress passed legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In this photograph, President Dwight D. Eisenhower presents commissions of office to Dr. T. Keith Glennan (right) as the first administrator for NASA and Dr. Hugh L. Dryden (left) as its first deputy administrator, during a White House ceremony on August 19, 1958.
NASA
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On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard launched into space aboard the Mercury Freedom 7, becoming the first American to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. President John F. Kennedy watched intently from the White House with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security McGeorge Bundy, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Special Assistant to the President Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and Chief of Staff of the United States Navy Admiral Arleigh Burke.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
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Although Alan Shepard’s craft, Mercury Freedom 7, did not achieve orbit, Shepard did become the first American in space. When he returned to Earth, Shepard joined President John F. Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden on May 8, 1961. The president presented NASA’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, to the astronaut, stating: “His flight as the first United States astronaut was an outstanding contribution to the advancement of human knowledge of space technology, and a demonstration of man’s capabilities in sub-orbital space flight.”
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
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“First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
In a speech to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy encouraged members of Congress and the nation to set ambitious long-term goals for the space program. Although his time in the White House was tragically cut short two years later, President Kennedy used his time in office to propel the space program forward. He set his sights on the moon, advocating for the development of new technologies and the funds to pay for it.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
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On February 20, 1962, the United States reached a new milestone when John Glenn successfully orbited Earth three times aboard the Mercury Friendship 7. Several days later, President John F. Kennedy journeyed to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for a tour of NASA’s Project Mercury launch facilities with Glenn. During this trip Kennedy also presented Glenn with the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. In this photograph, Glenn places a rocket-worker’s hard hat on President Kennedy’s head.
Library of Congress
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Following President John F. Kennedy’s trip to Cape Canaveral, Florida, on February 26, 1962, President Kennedy, John Glenn and his fellow Project Mercury astronauts headed to Washington, D.C. aboard Air Force One. Upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, President Kennedy and Glenn rode together in the presidential limousine to the White House. In this photograph, Glenn speaks with President Kennedy beneath the North Portico before departing the White House.
Library of Congress
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On May 24, 1962, Malcolm Scott Carpenter completed a mission to space aboard Mercury-Atlas 7 Aurora 7, orbiting Earth three times during the four hour and fifty-four minute flight. Like Shepard and Glenn before him, Carpenter visited President John F. Kennedy at the White House, posing for a photograph alongside his wife and children in the Oval Office.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
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“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one that we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”
This famous quote was delivered by President John F. Kennedy in a speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas on September 12, 1962.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
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On September 12, 1962, after delivering his iconic speech at Rice University, President John F. Kennedy continued on to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas. Astronauts gave him a tour of the facilities and provided progress reports on Project Apollo, which aimed to put astronauts on the moon. The director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Dr. Robert Gilruth, presented President Kennedy with a scale model of the Apollo Command Module in front of “the Bug,” a mockup of the proposed lunar lander.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
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During his time in the White House, President Lyndon B. Johnson continued President Kennedy’s full steam ahead approach to space exploration as NASA launched Project Gemini to further human spaceflight. On June 11, 1965, President and First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson visited NASA’s Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, Texas, following the successful Gemini IV mission completed by James McDivitt and Edward White.
White House Historical Association
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On June 17, 1965, Edward White, James McDivitt, and Gemini program manager Charles W. Matthews joined President Lyndon B. Johnson for a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden to celebrate the recent success of Gemini IV. President Johnson presented them with the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. During the four-day mission, McDivitt and White orbited Earth sixty-two times, while White completed the first spacewalk for the United States.
White House Historical Association
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After participating in a White House Rose Garden ceremony and trip to the United States Capitol Building on June 17, 1965, Gemini IV astronauts James McDivitt and Edward White had the rare honor of returning to the White House with their families to spend the night. In this photograph, Edward White plays in the White House pool with his children while the McDivitts swim in the background. First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson recalled fondly, “By 6 P.M. seven little astronaut children were splashing in the pool, the meals were ordered for the Solarium, and a Walt Disney movie laid on while the grownups prepared for the evening.”
White House Historical Association
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In this photograph, President Lyndon B. Johnson awards the Exceptional Service Medal to Gordon Cooper in the Oval Office on September 14, 1965. President Johnson also presented medals to Charles “Pete” Conrad and NASA physician Charles A. Berry. The award followed the successful Gemini V mission in which Cooper and Conrad broke the Soviet-held record for longest space flight with an eight-day mission from August 21-29, 1965.
White House Historical Association
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Two weeks before leaving office, President Lyndon B. Johnson hosted a ceremony for the Apollo 8 astronauts in the White House East Room on January 9, 1969. Several weeks prior on December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, James Lovell Jr., and William Anders had launched into space and gone into a twenty hour lunar orbit, becoming the first humans to see the far side of the moon. In this photograph, the astronauts present President Johnson with a photograph of Earth taken in lunar orbit.
Library of Congress
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On July 20, 1969, just six months into his first term, President Richard Nixon witnessed the Space Race’s conclusion as he viewed live coverage of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin exploring the moon’s surface. At 11:45 p.m., President Nixon placed a phone call to the moon from the Oval Office and participated in a short “interplanetary conversation” with Armstrong and Aldrin. “Hello Neil and Buzz. I’m talking to you by telephone from the Oval Room [Office] at the White House and this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made from the White House.”
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
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On July 24, 1969, four days after reaching the moon, the Apollo 11 crew splashed down off the coast of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The astronauts returned home safe and sound after a nine-day journey. Upon arrival, the astronauts were required to spend time in a mobile quarantine facility aboard the USS Hornet. President Richard Nixon welcomed the astronauts back to Earth from outside the facility.
NASA
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On September 7, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford extended a warm welcome to astronauts and cosmonauts participating in a joint mission between the United States and the Soviet Union called the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. After meeting with President Ford in the Cabinet Room to discuss the particulars of the mission, these men completed the first joint international space flight on July 15, 1975, proving that the two countries could work together in pursuit of scientific knowledge to better humanity.
NASA

About this Gallery

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the world’s first artificial satellite. Americans panicked. President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded from the Oval Office, reassuring the public and turning America’s attention towards outer space. For the next twenty years, the United States embarked upon an ambitious quest for space supremacy with the White House at the center of it all. Determined to outperform the Soviet Union in the midst of the Cold War, American presidents reached for the stars to put man on the moon.

In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing, check out this gallery to explore the White House and the Space Race.