Goddard Space Flight Center
hideThe Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately 6.5 miles (10.5 km) northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. The Goddard Space Flight Center is named in recognition of Dr. Robert H. Goddard, the pioneer of modern rocket propulsion in the United States.
GSFC is the largest combined organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to increasing knowledge of the Earth, the Solar System, and the Universe via observations from space in the United States. GSFC is a major U.S. laboratory for developing and operating unmanned scientific spacecraft. GSFC conducts scientific investigation, development and operation of space systems, and development of related technologies. Goddard scientists can develop and support a mission, and Goddard engineers and technicians can design and build the spacecraft for that mission. Goddard scientist John C. Mather shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on COBE.
GSFC also operates spaceflight tracking and data acquisition networks, develops and maintains advanced space and Earth science data information systems, and develops satellite systems for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
GSFC manages operations for many NASA and international missions including the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Explorer program, the Discovery Program, the Earth Observing System (EOS), INTEGRAL, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and Swift. Past missions managed by GSFC include the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, SMM, COBE, IUE, and ROSAT. Typically, unmanned earth observation missions and observatories in Earth orbit are managed by GSFC, while unmanned planetary missions are managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
For more information about Goddard Space Flight Center, read the full article at
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News tagged with goddard space flight center
NASA Balloon Mission Tunes in to a Cosmic Radio Mystery
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 07, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (17) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Listening to the early universe just got harder. A team led by Alan Kogut of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., today announced the discovery of cosmic radio noise that ...
Fermi telescope reveals best-ever view of the gamma-ray sky
Mar 11, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (15) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new map combining nearly three months of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is giving astronomers an unprecedented look at the high-energy cosmos. To Fermi's eyes, the universe ...
Researchers See the 'Dark Side' of the Sun
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 26, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (11) |
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Today, NASA researchers announced an event that will transform our view of the Sun and, in the process, super-charge the field of solar physics for many years to come.
Active galaxies are different near and far
Jan 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An ongoing X-ray survey undertaken by NASA's Swift spacecraft is revealing differences between nearby active galaxies and those located about halfway across the universe. Understanding these ...
Fermi telescope unveils a dozen new pulsars
Jan 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has discovered 12 new gamma-ray-only pulsars and has detected gamma-ray pulses from 18 others. The finds are transforming our understanding of how these ...
Report calls aerosol research key to improving climate predictions
Jan 17, 2009 |
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Scientists need a more detailed understanding of how human-produced atmospheric particles, called aerosols, affect climate in order to produce better predictions of Earth's future climate, according to a NASA-led report issued ...
Scientists Predicted 2006-2007 Outbreak of Deadly Virus
Feb 16, 2009 |
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An early warning system, more than a decade in development, successfully predicted the 2006-2007 outbreak of the deadly Rift Valley fever in northeast Africa, according to a new study led by NASA scientists.
NASA Lunar Spacecraft Ships South in Preparation for Launch
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft was loaded on a truck Wednesday to begin its two-day journey to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch is targeted for April ...
