Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-ST-C170-5-63
President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy visit with five of the Mercury Seven astronauts and their wives in the Yellow Oval Room of the White House, Washington, D.C.; President Kennedy presented the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) to astronaut Major L. Gordon Cooper earlier in the day. Clockwise from right: President Kennedy (in rocking chair), Commander Alan B. Shepard, Major Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Lieutenant Commander M. Scott Carpenter, Rene Carpenter, Major Donald K. “Deke” Slayton, Marjorie Slayton, Betty Grissom, Mrs. Kennedy, Jo Schirra, Commander Walter M. Schirra, Louise Shepard.