President Ronald Reagan speaks to a crowd of more than 45,000 people at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center following the landing of STS-4 on July 4, 1982. To the right of the President are Mrs. Reagan and NASA Administrator James M. Beggs. To the left are STS-4 Columbia astronauts Thomas K. Mattingly and Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr. Prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise is in the background.

President Ronald Reagan speaks to a crowd of more than 45,000 people at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center following the landing of STS-4 on July 4, 1982. To the right of the President are Mrs. Reagan and NASA Administrator James M. Beggs. To the left are STS-4 Columbia astronauts Thomas K. Mattingly and Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr. Prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise is in the background.

Views of the Columbia landing at EAFB ending the STS-4 Mission on 07/04/1982; of President and Mrs. Reagan greeting the crew out on the Lake bed Runway; and, the view of Roy Rogers with Astronauts Jerry Ross and Guy Gardner. 1. President Ronald Reagan & wife Nancy 2. Roy Rogers 3. Astronaut Jerry L. Ross 4. Astronaut Guy S. Gardner Edwards AFB, CA

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) President John Langford delivers remarks during a reception hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) to celebrate NASA's 60th anniversary, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) President John Langford delivers remarks during a reception hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) to celebrate NASA's 60th anniversary, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

51L-S-127 (31 Jan. 1986) --- A wide angle lens was used to capture only a portion of the crowd gathered for memorial services for the seven members of the STS-51L Challenger crew at the Johnson Space Center. President Ronald Reagan speaks at the lectern at far left edge of the frame. The photographer for the picture was positioned on a large platform erected to accommodate the many members of the news media on hand for the event. Photo credit: NASA

Onboard views by the STS-2 Crew of the Payload Bay with Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (OSTA)-1 Payload, the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) and Earth views of: Korea, China and Columbia. Also available in 4x5 BW 1. REAGAN, RONALD PRESIDENT - MOCR (STS-2) JSC, HOUSTON, TX Also available in 4x5 BW, 35 CN, 35 BW

NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard, left, poses for a photo with Max Stier, president and chief executive officer of the Partnership for Public Service, after accepting the Best Place to Work award for large federal government agencies for NASA, Friday, Jan. 10, 2020 at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

S81-39499 (13 Nov. 1981) --- President Ronald Reagan is briefed by JSC Director Christopher C. Kraft Jr., who points toward the orbiter spotter on the projection plotter in the front of the mission operations control room in the Johnson Space Center's Mission Control Center. This picture was taken just prior to a space-to-ground conversation between STS-2 crew members Joe H. Engle and Richard H. Truly, who were orbiting Earth in the space shuttle Columbia. Photo credit: NASA

S82-33420 (4 July 1982) --- The aft wheels of the space shuttle Columbia ease down on the runway at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) today to successfully complete a week-long spaceflight for astronauts Thomas K. Mattingly II, and Henry W. Hartsfield Jr. A T-38 aircraft serves as a chase plane (just above center of photo) in the background. Not long after this photograph was made and the crew had egressed their craft, President Ronald Reagan addressed a giant crowd on hand at Edwards AFB for a special kind of July 4 celebration. Photo credit: NASA

S83-39696 (5 Sept 1983) --- The five member astronaut crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger for STS-8 responds to a comment made by President Ronald Reagan during a post flight telephone conversation with the chief executive. The five astronauts earlier today landed the reusable spacecraft at Edwards Air Force Base in California and were flown to JSC via NASA aircraft. Richard H. Truly, center, is crew commander. Pilot for the six day flight was Daniel C. Brandenstein, second left. The mission specialist were Guion S. Bluford, left: Dr. William S. Thornton, second right, and Dale A. Gardner, right. Photo credit: NASA

S83-39693 (5 Sept 1983) --- The five member astronaut crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger for STS-8 responds to a comment made by President Ronald Reagan during a post flight telephone conversation with the chief executive. The five astronauts earlier today landed the reusable spacecraft at Edwards Air Force Base in California and were flown to JSC via NASA aircraft. Richard H. Truly, center, is crew commander. Pilot for the six day flight was Daniel C. Brandenstein, second left. The mission specialist were Guion S. Bluford, left: Dr. William S. Thornton, second right, and Dale A. Gardner, right.

S86-26428 (31 Jan. 1986) --- Dozens of cameras and thousands of eyes focus on President Ronald Reagan (out of frame at left) during the 51-L memorial services Jan. 31 on the mall at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). The photograph was taken from special bleachers quickly erected to accommodate hundreds of members of the news media. The audience of thousands was largely made up of JSC employees and family and friends of the Challenger crew members who perished four days earlier in the attempted launch of NASA’s 25th STS mission. Photo credit: NASA

Skylab's success proved that scientific experimentation in a low gravity environment was essential to scientific progress. A more permanent structure was needed to provide this space laboratory. President Ronald Reagan, on January 25, 1984, during his State of the Union address, claimed that the United States should exploit the new frontier of space, and directed NASA to build a permanent marned space station within a decade. The idea was that the space station would not only be used as a laboratory for the advancement of science and medicine, but would also provide a staging area for building a lunar base and manned expeditions to Mars and elsewhere in the solar system. President Reagan invited the international community to join with the United States in this endeavour. NASA and several countries moved forward with this concept. By December 1985, the first phase of the space station was well underway with the design concept for the crew compartments and laboratories. Pictured are two NASA astronauts, at Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC) Neutral Buoyancy Simulator (NBS), practicing construction techniques they later used to construct the space station after it was deployed.

S82-33394 (5 July 1982) --- A rare sight in Houston is the appearance of the spacecraft whose flights are monitored from that city, but with the brief stopover of NASA's new space shuttle Challenger, thousands of area residents were afforded that opportunity yesterday as part of a nationwide special July 4 celebration. Here, the Challenger and its NASA 905 (a modified Boeing 747 aircraft) transport vehicle are readied for the completion of the journey from California to Florida. The Columbia landed in California yesterday and the Enterprise was already there, so three shuttlecraft were together as appropriate backdrops for a space-oriented July 4 speech by President Ronald Reagan. Crew for the NASA 905 for Challenger's Florida trip from Houston were Pilot Joseph S. Algranti, Co-Pilot Francis R. (Dick) Scobee. Photo credit: NASA

S82-33421 (4 July 1982) --- This spectacular view of the NASA 905 transport aircraft taxiing the new space shuttle Challenger was recorded from a T-38 aircraft as the aircraft were heading for Houston, Texas and a combination "meet the Challenger and greet the STS-4 crew" ceremony at Ellington Air Force Base. The STS-4 astronauts-Thomas K. Mattingly II, and Henry W. Hartsfield Jr., were minutes ahead of the tandem in another aircraft. Earlier today they completed a successful week-long stay in space aboard the Columbia. Upon their landing at Edwards Air Force Base, a historical "first" occurred for NASA and this nation. Three shuttlecraft ? The Enterprise, Challenger and Columbia ? were together at one time in the same location. The hardware served as a backdrop for a speech by President Ronald Reagan leading the nation in a special July 4 celebration. Following the stopover in Houston, the Challenger will move onto Florida for processing in preparation for future spaceflights. Photo credit: NASA