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About Goddard

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is home to the nation’s largest organization of scientists, engineers and technologists who build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study Earth, the sun, our solar system and the universe.

An aerial photograph of the NASA Goddard Visitor Center, with white and brick rectangular buildings peeking out from among dense green trees behind a tall white rocket. The rocket stands in the center of a tan paved circle and is shaped like a pencil with a long, slim tower and a slight bulge at the top. Several smaller red, white, and yellow rockets are displayed on their sides around the paved circle, with another rocket standing in a smaller, white paved circle near the trees.

meet the Goddard Leadership

Portrait of Makenzie Lystrup, smiling at the camera. She has medium brown hair, lighter closer to the ends. She is wearing brownish, plastic-rimmed glasses, and a black, red and gold scarf, and black blazer. Behind her is the American flag.

Goddard Center Director

Cynthia Simmons sits at a table with her hands clasped in front of her. She wears a red blazer with a black shirt underneath.

Goddard Deputy Center Director 

Ray Rubilotta, white and grey hair poses for a portrait. He is wearing a tweed brown suit jacket over a light blue collared shirt with a multi-colored tie. Behind him is a blue background with an American flag over his right shoulder.

Associate Center Director

Christyl Johnson with long, flowing black hair. She is wearing a black blazer with a white shirt underneath. The background is blue with an American flag over her right shoulder.

Deputy Center Director for Technology and Research Investments

Dave Pierce, a white man with white hair, wears a pair of black-rimmed glasses, a dark-colored blazer with a light blue shirt and yellow tie. Behind him is the American flag against a blue background.

Wallops Flight Facility Director

Just outside Washington, Goddard is home to Hubble operations and a proving ground for the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope. Goddard manages communications between mission control and orbiting astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Goddard scientists stare into the Sun, grind up meteorites for signs of life’s building blocks, look into the farthest reaches of space, and untangle the mysteries of our own changing world. Goddard engineers construct sensitive instruments, build telescopes that peer into the cosmos, and operate the test chambers that ensure those satellites’ survival. Named for American rocketry pioneer Dr. Robert H. Goddard, the center was established May 1, 1959, as NASA’s first space flight complex. Goddard and its several installations are critical in carrying out NASA’s missions of space exploration and scientific discovery.

Quick Facts

History

Dr. Robert Goddard

Named for American rocketry pioneer Dr. Robert H. Goddard, the center was established May 1, 1959, as NASA's first space flight complex.

Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945) is considered the father of modern rocket propulsion. A physicist of great insight, Goddard also had a unique genius for invention. It is in memory of this brilliant scientist that NASA established the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Learn More about Dr. Robert Goddard
An illustration fo Dr. Robert H. Goddard in front of a chalkboard