The viral image of Vice President Mike Pence touching some NASA equipment that he wasn't supposed to touch now has an explanation from Pence himself: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) dared him to.

Pence tweeted out from his official Twitter account on Friday that while he and Rubio were touring NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, the Florida senator had dared him to touch the surface of "critical space flight hardware" that had a sign saying "DO NOT TOUCH" taped to it.

Sorry @NASA...@MarcoRubio dared me to do it! pic.twitter.com/qIYtKOPyFh

— Vice President Pence (@VP) July 7, 2017

Rubio responded jokingly that he had warned Pence that if he broke it, he owned it.

In fairness, I warned @VP that "you break it, you own it" https://t.co/X5ROcnDVCd

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 7, 2017

NASA's social media account tweeted back at Pence, telling him that touching it wasn't a big deal, as they were going to clean it later anyway.

It was OK to touch the surface. Those are just day-to-day reminder signs. We were going to clean it anyway. It was an honor to host you! https://t.co/gu8zxknsJv

— NASA (@NASA) July 7, 2017

The vice president wasn't done with the jokes, however.

"Okay...so this isn't exactly the first time this has happened," Pence tweeted, posting a photoshopped picture of himself touching a porcupine.

Okay...so this isn't exactly the first time this has happened. pic.twitter.com/6Y7b3UlJXe

— Vice President Pence (@VP) July 7, 2017

Pence wasn't the only one to have fun photoshopping himself into other situations. Reddit's r/PsBattle (photoshop battle) decided to contribute to the jokes as well.

@theblazepic.twitter.com/zPTuhA5NCP

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) July 10, 2017

@theblazepic.twitter.com/iX2lk0WGJx

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) July 10, 2017

@theblazepic.twitter.com/uao3yp6g9C

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) July 10, 2017

@theblazepic.twitter.com/wa5MsO7B5m

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) July 10, 2017