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. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created on October 1, 1958, to perform civilian research related to space flight and aeronautics.

In this photograph, President John F. Kennedy speaks with astronaut John Glenn on the steps of the North Portico. Glenn had recently completed a successful mission to orbit the earth. He would later serve four terms in the United States Senate, representing the state of Ohio.

In this photograph, President John F. Kennedy speaks to Congress and the nation at a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961. Kennedy stated in his speech, "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 Earth." Just eight years later, NASA successfully completed the first manned lunar landing on July 20, 1969.

This photograph is of President Gerald R. Ford holding the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft model from a model set depicting the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, an Earth orbital docking and rendezvous mission involving crewmen from the U.S. and USSR. With him are the cosmonauts and astronauts who participated in the mission.

This photograph is of the Apollo 11 astronauts Commander Neil A. Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., inside the Mobile Quarantine Facility aboard the USS Hornet, listening to President Richard M. Nixon on July 24, 1969 as he welcomes them back to Earth and congratulates them on their successful mission.

In this photograph, President John F. Kennedy presents astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. with NASA's Distinguished Service Medal Award during a ceremony in what is now the Rose Garden, on May 8, 1961. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, NASA Administrator James E. Webb, and several NASA astronauts can be seen in the background of the photograph.

This photograph is of astronaut John Glenn and his wife, Annie, waving to crowds of onlookers during a parade held in his honor. Just eight days earlier, Glenn successfully completed his mission to orbit Earth, circling around the planet three times. Sitting in front of the couple are Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and an unidentified woman.

In this photograph, President Gerald R. Ford watches Apollo-Soyuz Test Project crewmen Thomas P. Stafford, Donald K. Slayton, and Valeriy N. Kubasov on television from his desk in the Oval Office. President Ford talked to the crewmen via radio-telephone while they orbited Earth on July 18, 1975.