Lyndon B. Johnson

===Space program===
[[File:Lyndon Johnson and Spiro Agnew watch the Apollo 11 liftoff.jpg|alt=President Johnson and Vice President Spiro Agnew witnessing the liftoff of Apollo 11.|thumb|Former President Lyndon B. Johnson (center left) and Vice President [[Spiro Agnew]] (center right) witness the liftoff of [[Apollo 11]], the first manned space aircraft to [[Moon landing|land on the Moon]], on July 16, 1969]]
During the [[Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson administration]], [[NASA]] conducted the [[Project Gemini|Gemini]] crewed space program, developed the [[Saturn V]] rocket and [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39|its launch facility]], and prepared to make the first crewed [[Apollo program]] flights. On January 27, 1967, the nation was stunned when the entire crew of [[Apollo 1]] was killed in a cabin fire during a spacecraft test on the launch pad, stopping Apollo in its tracks. Rather than appointing another Warren-style commission, Johnson accepted Administrator [[James E. Webb]]'s request for NASA to do its own investigation.<ref>{{cite web |title=James E. Webb – NASA Administrator, February 14, 1961 – October 7, 1968 |url=https://history.nasa.gov/Biographies/webb.html |publisher=NASA |work=History.NASA.gov |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425115407/https://history.nasa.gov/Biographies/webb.html |archive-date=April 25, 2009}}</ref>

Johnson maintained his staunch support of Apollo through Congressional and press controversy, and the program recovered. The first two crewed missions, [[Apollo 7]] and the first crewed flight to the Moon, [[Apollo 8]], were completed by the end of Johnson's term. He congratulated the Apollo 8 crew, saying, "You've taken ... all of us, all over the world, into a new era."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/glimpse/presidents/html/lj36.html |title=Lyndon B. Johnson |date=1990s<!--specific date unknown--> |publisher=Clinton White House |access-date=November 22, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528021215/http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/glimpse/presidents/html/lj36.html |archive-date=May 28, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Freidel |first1=Frank |last2=Sidey |first2=Hugh |title=The Presidents of the United States of America |chapter=Lyndon B. Johnson |chapter-url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/lyndon-b-johnson/ |date=2006 |publisher=[[White House Historical Association]] |via=The White House website |access-date=February 19, 2017}}</ref> On July 16, 1969, Johnson attended the launch of the first Moon landing mission [[Apollo 11]], becoming the first former or incumbent U.S. president to witness a rocket launch.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Shribman|first=David|date=July 11, 2019|title=Column One: 50 years after Apollo 11, the moon's allure still resonates|work=Los Angeles times|url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-col1-moon-landing-apollo-anniversary-20190711-htmlstory.html|access-date=January 22, 2021}}</ref>