Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-ST-A16-18-62
President John F. Kennedy visits with astronaut Commander Walter M. Schirra (back to camera), during a tour of the Mercury-Atlas Launch Complex at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Left to right (in foreground): Manager of Florida Operations for the Manned Spacecraft Center, G. Merritt Preston (head bowed); Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Launch Operations Center, Dr. Kurt H. Debus; President Kennedy; Associate Administrator of NASA, Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr. (in back); Commander Schirra; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (mostly hidden); Minister of Defence of Great Britain, Peter Thorneycroft (partially hidden); Administrator of NASA, Dr. James E. Webb (back to camera); Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara. Also pictured: White House Secret Service agents, Roy Kellerman and Gerald A. “Jerry” Behn. The President visited Cape Canaveral as part of a two-day inspection tour of NASA field installations.