NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor – s Center, Our Kids

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor’s Center

For science minded kids and adults, a chance to visit a real NASA facility can be out of this world. The Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor’s Center is located in Greenbelt, MD just minutes from the Capitol Beltway. This small facility has many hands on science experiences and a great gift shop for taking home souvenirs.

Open every day except for Mondays, the Goddard Visitor’s Center admission and parking are both free. The exhibits here are colorful and interesting to the eye, but kids who can read (or have parents willing to read to them) will get the most out of a visit here. That said, my 6 and 5 year olds with limited reading abilities had a great time. Kids can sit in a replica of a Gemini command module, get their picture taken in an astronaut cut out and play with many computers offering games, images and information in areas of Earth Systems Science, Climate Change, and Planetary Science.

The center is divided into several sections describing some of NASA’s work and programs. Visitors can learn about the Hubble Telescope, weather satellites and various planets. Aside from the experiences mentioned above the plasma globe and moon rock were of particular interest to my kids. Separate from the other exhibits is the Science on a Sphere theater, where short 5 to 15 minute shows are projected onto a large sphere in the center of the room. These movies play throughout the day during regular visiting hours.

Outside of the Visitor’s Center you can extend your trip by walking through the Rocket Garden. Here, several replicas of NASA rockets and an Apollo capsule are scattered throughout the grassy grounds. There are signs clearly posted for no climbing on these space crafts but kids can enjoy looking at them and taking some photos. Drink vending machines are located between the main building and the gift shop and there are many picnic tables scattered throughout the Rocket Garden to enjoy lunch on site. Pack a lunch if you want to take advantage of this, there are no food sales at the Visitor’s Center.

A visit to this NASA facility on an ordinary day is a great learning experience for kids and parents alike. For something extra special try scheduling your visit on the first or third Sundays of the month. On the first Sunday of the month from 1 to 2pm there is a public model rocket launch. This means you can build a model rocket and bring it to launch on their equipment or simply come to watch others launch their creations. On the third Sunday of the month (from September through May), Goddard hosts the Sunday Experiment. This program is geared towards families with elementary aged children and includes hands on experiments, Q&As with NASA scientists and engineers, and giveaways. Hours for this event are 1 to 3pm. NASA also hosts a spring science festival each year in May which brings together many science activities, shows, experiments and even moon bounces to their grounds for a day of family friendly exploration.

Blast out of your ordinary routine and head over to the Goddard Space Flight Center for an educational and entertaining afternoon of family fun.

A visit to NASA – s Goddard Space Flight Center

ASCL.net

Astrophysics Source Code Library

Making codes discoverable since 1999

A visit to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Although I was born in Washington, DC and have spent most of my life in its Maryland suburbs, yesterday was my first time on the Goddard campus (aside from its Visitor Center, which I’ve been to many times), this despite having two family members and many friends who used to 1 or do work there. I was excited! And I had a great reason for going: I was presenting a talk to the Astrophysics Science Division titled “Make your research software famous! (or at least discoverable).” The talk, broadcast on a NASA UStream channel and recorded for future viewing, 2 covered a bit about our research on source code availability in astronomy, and also covered our current project to make NASA astro research software more discoverable, what the Astrophysics Source Code Library is and how it improves research transparency, software citation, and recent changes in publishing with regard to software that, combined with other changes in the community and science in general, make it easier than ever before to make one’s astro research software discoverable. The slides I presented are available for download (PDF), and links to different resources, journals, and organizations that I mentioned in the talk are also available.

Kristin Rutkowski, along with Tess Jaffe and Alex Reustle, hosted my visit to GSFC; I had met both Kristin and Tess at last year’s ADASS conference in College Park, where we had our first conversation about my visiting the site to talk about the ASCL. Yesterday’s audience was great; they were involved and asked a lot of excellent questions, about copyright, code authors not receiving credit for the software they write, how we handle dead links, mutable author lists, NASA policies regarding software release, and how the ASCL is funded. Some of the questions came from people attending remotely and were asked online; Alex made sure these were covered, too. Alex is also involved in making the video of the talk available online, and when it is available, I’ll update this post with its link.

Space Environment Simulator

After my presentation, Kristin and Tess took me to see some of the NASA labs and equipment, including the Space Environment Simulator Facility, the JWST/OTIS Vibration Test System, the currently out-of-service High Capacity Centrifuge, and the Acoustic Test Cell. We went through doors marked “Authorized Personnel Only”!! This is one of the perqs of working on the ASCL — I become “Authorized Personnel” when visiting telescopes and labs and such, which, to me, is very cool and exciting! Sure, it’s only for a few minutes and always in the company of others who have far more business being there than I do, but still: very cool and exciting!! After looking at these labs and equipment, Kristin and I said goodbye to Tess, and then drove over to see dinosaur footprints that had been found on the Goddard campus. (Could a visit anywhere be any cooler. )

Dinosaur and small mammal tracks

Science science everywhere! I had a great time at Goddard, and thank Alex and Tess and especially Kristin for hosting my visit!

1 Happy retirement day, Janie!
2 No, that’s not nerve-wracking at all, so long as one doesn’t think about it.

NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center: Exploring Earth and space by remote control, Space

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center: Exploring Earth and space by remote control

Reference article: Facts about the Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is the nation’s largest organization of space scientists and engineers, according to the agency’s website. With a main campus just northeast of Washington, D.C., in Greenbelt, Maryland, GSFC has managed or played key roles in hundreds of NASA missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Landsat satellites, the Parker Solar Probe and the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) network.

GSFC also manages several installations in other locations, including:

  • The Wallops Flight Facility on Viriginia’s eastern shore — a launching site for suborbital rockets, research balloons and research aircraft.
  • The Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City — a hub for climate research.
  • The Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility, in Fairmont, West Virginia, where computer programs for space missions are tested.
  • The White Sands Complex in New Mexico — one of the ground stations for the TDRS network.

A visitor center at the Greenbelt campus welcomes the public and operates educational programs, and a visitor center at Wallops provides viewing for launches as well as educational exhibits and programs.

A new research center for the space age

GSFC was founded shortly after NASA itself, in late 1958. As Alfred Rosenthal explained in his 1968 publication “Venture Into Space: Early Years of Goddard Space Flight Center” (NASA, 1968), GSFC provided an institutional base for experts from military projects, such as the Navy’s Vanguard satellite program and the Army’s work on space communication, who were being transferred to the new civilian space agency. The Center was also assigned a long list of other duties, including theoretical research, development of instruments to fly in space, interpretation of scientific results from flight programs and administration of contracts.

In contrast to some other NASA centers, such as Glenn and Langley, which were based on established aeronautical facilities, Goddard was created specifically to work on space research.

Construction of the new center began in 1959 on land formerly owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In March 1961, the center was formally dedicated and named in honor of American rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard, 35 years after he launched the first successful liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts.

Today, according to the Center’s website, the main Goddard campus comprises more than 34 buildings on a campus occupying 1,270 acres. All the Goddard installations, combined, employ more than 10,000 people, the Center stated in its 2018 annual report.

Notable early achievements

A NASA chronology of Goddard missions lists 104 launches in its first decade (1959-1969), including 40 Explorer satellites to measure the space environment surrounding Earth, 10 TIROS weather satellites, five Orbiting Solar Observatories, three Syncom communications satellites, five Orbiting Geophysical Observatories, eight ESSA cloud-photography satellites, two Orbiting Astronomical Observatories and four Applications Technology Satellites. A variety of technical problems affected some of these early missions, but the majority were successful.

Goddard’s early Explorer satellites ushered in the new field of space physics by measuring Earth’s magnetic field, and showing how Earth’s magnetic field deflects most solar wind particles around the Earth while trapping some particles in the Van Allen radiation belts.

Teams at Goddard managed the 1960 launch of the very first communications satellite — a huge mylar balloon called Echo that reflected radio transmissions back to Earth, as well as the first international space satellites: Ariel, in collaboration with the United Kingdom, and Alouette I, with Canada, both in 1962. Ariel and Alouette pioneered a “no exchange of funds” type of partnership, in which the partners contribute services and equipment to a project, but none of the partners pays any of the others with money. This arrangement is used to this day in projects such as the International Space Station.

Goddard engineers organized the creation of the Delta rocket as a vehicle to launch small to medium-size payloads into Earth orbit, and used it for many of Goddard’s early launches. Among many later variations on the design, the Delta II became an “industry workhorse,” with 155 launches from 1989 to 2018, according to Boeing.

The key to it all: communication

A satellite in low Earth orbit spends only a few minutes within range of any one tracking station, so many stations are needed to keep in touch with a craft throughout one orbit. As NASA historian Lane Wallace explains in her book “Dreams, Hopes, Realties,” (NASA, 1999), over the decades, Goddard has organized a series of worldwide networks of antennas on Earth to communicate with spacecraft in orbit, setting an example of international cooperation on technical projects.

Goddard’s Minitrack network, created for the very first satellites starting in the 1950s, led to the Mercury Space Flight Network of the 1960s, with seven ground stations and two ships at sea communicating with solo astronauts in Mercury capsules. Communication between ground stations depended on telephone lines, which could fail. So, during Project Gemini, which sent two-man crews into orbit in the mid-1960s, Goddard maintained a backup mission-control center that could take over from Houston if necessary.

To handle the big data downloads from the first robotic space observatories, Goddard set up a new Satellite Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN), with antenna dishes up to 85 feet (25 meters) wide in 21 locations around the world. Goddard’s Applications Technology satellites (ATS) demonstrated the concept of using satellites in orbit to relay messages between spacecraft and Earth stations. ATS led to TDRSS, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, which now includes 10 satellites in geosynchronous orbits providing near-continuous communication with the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope and other spacecraft.

Goddard also manages the Near Earth Network of more than 15 worldwide commercially operated ground stations for communication with orbiting spacecraft, and the NASA Communications Network (NASCOM), which sends data between control centers. According to its 2018 annual report, Goddard is working on space communications using laser light, which can transmit more data per second than radio waves.

Earth and space in depth

Starting in the 1970s, Goddard’s work grew to include deeper views into space and closer examination of Earth using robotic spacecraft.

Orbiting solar observatories watched the sun in ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma-ray light that can’t be seen from observatories on the ground because those wavelengths are blocked by Earth’s atmosphere. The Solar Max satellite observed solar flares and was also repaired by space shuttle astronauts in 1984, paving the way for future on-orbit servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Uhuru satellite, developed at Goddard, launched in 1970 and discovered Cygnus X-1, the first observed object thought to contain a black hole. Uhuru’s project manager at Goddard, Marjorie Townsend, was the first woman to manage a NASA satellite project.

Other Goddard satellites sensitive to X-rays and gamma-rays established the link between galaxies and mysterious powerful sources of light called quasars. The satellites also analyzed the gas in clusters of galaxies, found new pulsars and discovered gamma-ray bursts.

Another of Goddard’s accomplishments was the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite, which launched in 1978 and featured a new type of stabilizing gyroscope that was later used on the Hubble Space Telescope. The satellite also demonstrated a new “transparent” software system, allowing guest astronomers to use the telescope.

The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, launched in 1989, made the first precise measurement of the cosmic microwave background, also known as the afterglow from the Big Bang. GSFC scientist John Mather shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for the project.

Early weather satellites flew in relatively low Earth orbits, able to photograph a particular geographical region only when they passed over it. In 1975, GSFC developed the first Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), which flew in a high orbit that kept it almost stationary above the longitude of North America. The GOES series has progressed through several generations of improvements, leading to the GOES-16 and GOES-17 satellites monitoring the Western Hemisphere today. The GOES satellites, once built and launched, are turned over to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for daily operation.

An early Goddard geosynchronous satellite, ATS-3, took the first space-based color photograph of an entire hemisphere of Earth in 1967. And an instrument on Goddard’s Nimbus 7 confirmed the existence of an ozone “hole” over Antarctica in 1985.

Recent past, present and future

  • A centrifuge than can subject 5,000 lbs. (2,268 kilograms) of spacecraft hardware to 30 g.
  • A reverberation chamber that can generate up to 150 decibels of sound, subjecting hardware to the noise levels of a rocket launch.
  • A Space Environment Chamber that can achieve a wide range of vacuum and thermal conditions.
  • The Spacecraft Magnetic Test Facility, with a magnetic coil system that can cancel Earth’s magnetic field.
  • The High Bay Clean Room, suitable for final assembly of a spacecraft, the largest of its kind in the world, with a volume of 1.3 million cubic feet (36,800 cubic meters).

Goddard has a hand in more than 50 current space flight projects. Among them, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter both have their mission control centers on the GSFC campus. Two currently operating Mars probes, Curiosity and MAVEN, carry Goddard-developed science instruments. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which has been searching for planets around other stars since 2018, is under Goddard management.

Goddard missions being prepared for launch include Landsat 9, the latest in a series of Earth-monitoring satellites going back to 1972; the James Webb Space Telescope (in collaboration with the European and Canadian space agencies); Lucy, a mission to explore the Trojan asteroids that accompany Jupiter; and WFIRST (Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope), which should image large areas of the sky 1,000 times faster than Hubble.

If you’ve seen a particularly beautiful animation of how a solar eclipse works or what makes the moon’s phases, it may well have come from Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio, which produces still images and animations based on data collected by NASA missions.

Wallops: Small and adventurous

Relatively small rockets, called sounding rockets, fly up to altitudes from 62 to 870 miles (100 to 1400 kilometers) from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, in Wallops Island, Virginia. Wallops originated as a missile test facility at the end of World War II and was put under Goddard management in 1981.

Sounding rockets provide an economical way to test space instruments and study regions of space that cannot be reached with aircraft, balloons or orbiting spacecraft. By the end of 2018, Wallops had hosted over 116,000 launches, according to Goddard’s 2018 annual report.

Adjacent to NASA’s operations on Wallops Island is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), where Antares rockets have launched Cygnus cargo modules to the International Space Station. MARS is operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

GISS: Climate research in New York City

The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) was established in NASA’s early days under the directorship of physicist Robert Jastrow, who had been doing theoretical work for the Naval Research Laboratory’s Vanguard satellite program in the 1950s.

When the Vanguard team was incorporated into the new NASA Goddard center, Jastrow convinced NASA managers that the theoretical research division should be located near major research universities to attract academic researchers. In 1961, GISS began operating in offices in New York City near Columbia University.

In the late 1960s, GISS moved a few blocks to the building it now occupies. This building later became famous because its ground floor includes Tom’s Restaurant, the regular hangout of characters on the “Seinfeld” TV series.

During its early years, under Jastrow, the institute concentrated on astrophysics and planetary science. Under James Hansen, director from 1981 to 2013, and his successor, Gavin Schmidt, GISS research has turned to climate change and other global aspects of Earth’s environment.

Additional resources:

  • Take a 360-degree virtual tour of the Hubble Control Center at Goddard.
  • Watch the complex, weaving trajectory planned for the Lucy spacecraft.
  • Read a summary of astronomers’ research priorities for the decade of the 2010s.

DC: NASA Goddard Tour – Caltech Alumni Association

DC: NASA Goddard Tour

Visit NASA Goddard Space Flight Center with Caltech Alumni

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, plays a pivotal role across all aspects of the agency’s missions, from development to de-orbit.

More than 50 Goddard spacecraft explore Earth and soar through the solar system, collecting observations to be parsed and studied by scientists around the world. Goddard’s missions support multiple scientific disciplines, including Earth science, solar science and the sun-Earth environment, planetary studies and astrophysics.

Please sign up by April 4 as the number of attendees is limited to 25 and space will be allocated on a first-serve basis. We must provide a list of attendees before the tour and consequently we cannot accept sign-ups after April 4.

This tour is open to Caltech alumni, children over 10, spouses, friends, etc. All US Citizens and US Permanent Residents must bring valid government or state issued photo ID. Foreign nationals must present their passports and also at the time of sign-up provide name, birth date, passport number, and issue information. Children under age 17 must sign-up but will not be required to present ID.

Attendees must be in the Visitor Center parking lot in time to have their IDs checked and board the bus so that the main tour can start at 1pm. On return the bus may arrive at the parking lot around 3:15. If the tour runs a bit late people must wait for the bus for them to return to their cars.

12:30 PM Meet at Goddard Visitor Center. Park in the visitor’s lot, entrance from Rte 193

12:45 PM Take provided bus to Goddard facilities. No private cars will be allowed.

1:00 – 1:30 PM Theater presentation

1:40 – 3:00 PM Tour of b7/10 and either b29 or b32

3:00 PM Return by bus to Visitors center

3:15 – 3:20 PM Arrive at Visitor Center Parking Lot

This facilities tour does not include the Visitor’s Center. It alone is worth 1-2 hours visit, which might be made before or after the facilities tour. No sign-up is necessary for the Visitor’s Center.

If you have mobility problems, please let us know. A short walk to and from the bus is required. All sites visited are at ground level.

About the Goddard Space Flight Center

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.

Just outside Washington, Goddard is home to Hubble operations and the upcoming 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.

Things to Do in Maryland: Goddard Space Flight Center

Things to Do in Maryland: Goddard Space Flight Center

By VI Staff on November 27, 2019

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is located in Greenbelt, MD, just 30 minutes from Washington, D.C. Goddard was NASA’s first space flight center, and the research laboratory was founded in 1959. The visitor’s center at Goddard displays the technologies and spacecraft that were developed on site. Exhibits highlight the agency’s continued work in Earth and planetary sciences, physics, engineering, technology, and astrophysics. Highlights include scale models of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Science on a Sphere (SOS) projection system, which projects a high-resolution video on to a 6-foot diameter globe, illustrating data from Goddard’s Earth and planetary science missions. There are currently over 130 SOS kits installed worldwide.

More ideas near me: Best Day Trips, Free Things to Do Permanent Collection

Additional permanent exhibits include Neighborhood Earth, which explores Earth’s “smallness” from the perspective of space, and GLOBE Hall, which encourages participation in Earth sciences via NASA’s GLOBE program. GLOBE stands for Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment and enlists students in assisting NASA with the collection of data worldwide. Solarium is a digital art installation that features NASA’s video footage of the sun and immerses the viewer in a video “room” that is simultaneously educational and awe inspiring. The Space Operations Learning Center teaches visitors what life is like aboard a space station and what satellites do. A full-sized prototype of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter lets guests stand in the footsteps of the astronauts who landed on the moon and displays moon rocks brought back by Apollo 14. The James Webb Space Telescope will launch in 2018 and is currently being developed at the Goddard Space Flight Center. An interactive 3-D tour of the mission lets guests see what they look like in infrared light and teaches them about the mission of the James Webb Telescope.

Outdoor exhibits include the Ozone Garden. The display educates guests on the effects of ozone deterioration on plant life and on the role of satellite missions in gathering data on the Earth’s atmosphere. The Rocket Garden and Astrobiology Walk brings guests around an outdoor exhibit on the origins of life and our solar systems and displays a collection of historically significant rockets. Items on display in the Rocket Garden include a Cushcraft fixed position satellite antenna from the 1980s, a replica Apollo spacecraft capsule, four sounding rockets, and Thor Delta, a Douglas Aircraft launch vehicle. The sycamore tree outside the visitor center began its life as a seed on a trip to the moon with Apollo 14 as part of project in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service.

Originally the Beltsville Space Center, the facility became the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in 1959 in honor of Dr. Robert H. Goddard (1882–1945), who built the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket, kickstarting the era of space exploration. Goddard has played a significant role in the history of space exploration, research, and technology development. Employees of the center contributed to Project Mercury, the first manned spaceflight program in the United States. The center has also developed many of the unmanned satellite research missions, including the Solar Max satellite, launched in 1980 to investigate solar flares, and the Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990 as the first major optical telescope to be stationed in space. Today, the center employs over 10,000 contractors and civil servants and plays an integral part in many of NASA’s programs to collect research data on the Earth and other planets, including studying the moon for future manned operations.

Ongoing Programs and Education

Recurring events at the flight center include monthly model rocket launches. On the first Sunday of each month, guests can prepare and bring their own model rockets and make use of the launch pad at the visitor’s center. The Sunday Experiment is a once monthly program that showcases Goddard’s research development through family-friendly interactive shows. An Educator’s Resource Center helps teachers of all levels learn about NASA’s resources and how to implement them in the classroom. Programs are focused on helping teachers integrate science, technology, and math into their curriculums. Equipment such as portable planetariums, model rocket launchers, and Science on a Sphere kits may be loaned. Exhibits for loan include samples of meteorites and moon rocks, which can be shipped for classroom use within the United States. For adults, science seminars and colloquia are offered in partnership with outside organizations and include Systems Engineering Seminars and the Information Science and Technology Colloquia.

8800 Greenbelt Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20771, Phone: 301-286-3978

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Goddard space flight center visitor center

Smithsonian Videohistory Collection

International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE)
(RU 9543)

The International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) geosynchronous satellite, launched in 1978, was the creation of diverse interests in Europe (European Space Agency), the United Kingdom (Scientific & Engineering Research Council), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center. It was, until the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in April 1990, the only astronomical telescope working in orbit. Many notable discoveries emerged from the IUE, including the detection of sulfur in the nucleus of a comet, the observation of a massive hot halo of gas surrounding our galaxy, and the continuous monitoring of Supernova 1987A.

David DeVorkin, curator at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM), interviewed scientists about the creation, design, manufacture, administration, and use of the IUE. Interviews took place on March 2 and 5, 1990, at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. DeVorkin documented the IUE image processing lab and control center, recorded an observing session with a guest astronomer where data was collected and discussed, and examined specific pieces of equipment that formed the IUE. His general interest was in observational techniques and the effect of new technologies on astronomical data gathering.

Participants

Key participants were Carol Ambruster, Albert Boggess, Yoji Kondo, and George Sonneborn. Charles Loomis, Lloyd Rawley, and Mario Perez assisted during the observing session. Carol Ambruster, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Villanova University was visiting IUE astronomer during the videohistory session. She used the IUE to detect activity of 107- and 108-year old stars. Ambruster received her Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984. She held a number of teaching and research positions before arriving at Villanova in 1987, including a pre-doctoral research position at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. and was a post-doctoral research associate at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics at the University of Colorado.

Albert Boggess was one of many architects of the IUE. He trained as an astronomer at the University of Michigan, and received his Ph.D in astronomy from there in 1954. He was appointed a fellow at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in 1954 and a year later began work as a physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory. He remained there until 1958. From 1959 through 1973 he held head positions at Goddard Space Flight Center with the Interstellar Medium Section, the Astronomy Systems Branch, and the Advanced Systems Development Branch. He also participated in the Sounding Rocket Program and the Orbital Astronomical Observatory. In 1983 Boggess was appointed associate director of science for the Space Telescope Sciences Directorate.

Yoji Kondo was appointed project scientist for the IUE in 1982 and in 1988 assumed additional responsibilities as the project scientist for the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUE) Satellite. He received a B.A. from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in 1958, and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965. He was an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania until 1968, when he joined NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, as an astronomer. He became an astrophysicist for the Goddard Space Flight Center in 1978.

George Sonneborn joined the IUE program in January 1982 as a supervisor for telescope operations and thereafter held a series of technical management positions. He was eventually appointed project scientist for the EUE. Sonneborn received a Ph.D. in astronomy in 1980 from Ohio State University.

Charles Loomis and Lloyd Rawley were technical assistants during the recording of the IUE observing session; Mario Perez was the on-duty resident astronomer. Loomis received a B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, researched old disk pulsating stars (type II Cepheids), and began as the telescope operator for the IUE in 1989. Rawley was in-training for a resident astronomer position. Perez received a Ph.D in physics and astronomy from Brigham Young University and an M.S. in electrical engineering from Universidad Santa Maria in Valparaiso, Chile. Before becoming resident astronomer for the IUE in 1988, Perez was a research and teaching assistant at Brigham Young University, and held engineering positions for various Chilean agencies and observatories.

Video Sessions

This collection consists of two interview sessions, totalling approximately 6:40 hours of recordings, and 185 pages of transcript. There are three generations of tape for each session: originals, dubbing masters, and reference copies. In total, this collection is comprised of 20 original videotapes (20 Beta videotapes), 7 dubbing master videotapes (7 U-Matic videotapes), and 4 reference copy videotapes (4 VHS videotapes).

Session One (March 2, 1990), in Building 21, Goddard Space Flight Center, featured George Sonneborn, Yoji Kondo, and Carol Armbruster, and documented data collection and analysis techniques, c. 1978-1990, including:

  • development of IUE software packs and training manuals;
  • scheduling IUE users;
  • measurement of spectrum and steps in image processing;
  • general telescope operations and calibration;
  • steps in data reduction analysis;
  • scientific research on IUE;
  • selection of guest observers;
  • observing program structure and finances;
  • observing session.

Original Masters: 7 Beta videotapes
Dubbing Masters: 3 U-Matic videotapes
Reference Copies: 2 VHS videotapes
Transcript: 55 pages
2 hours, 20 minutes

Visual documentation included:

Cal Comp plots; Computer screen images of IUE data; visual tour of RDAF; control panels and computer screens in observing room.

Original Masters: 12 Beta videotapes
Reference Copies: 2 VHS videotapes
Transcript: 109 pages
4 hours

Session Two (March 5, 1990), in Visitor Center Auditorium and Exhibit Hall, and in Building 14, Telescope Operations Control Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, featuring Albert Boggess, documented the history, administration, and technical aspects of IUE, c. 1945-1990, including:

  • origins of IUE;
  • role of Boggess and others;
  • key people in astronomy group;
  • administrative requirements;
  • work with the Europeans and British;
  • formation of Advisory Committee in 1969;
  • feasibility and design;
  • scientific problems;
  • requirements for accuracy;
  • scientific instrumentation;
  • instrument fabrication;
  • mechanical structure and materials;
  • corporations involved;
  • general operations of telescope and standard of performance.

Visual documentation included:

  • IUE model;
  • detector;
  • aperture plate;
  • prisms;
  • columnator mirrors;
  • eschelle spectrograph;
  • mechanism to convert eschelle spectrograph to low dispersion spectrograph;
  • SEC Vidicon, Westinghouse design;
  • SEC Vidicon, Galileo Company design;
  • additional specialized structures;
  • tour of TOCC.

Original Masters: 8 Beta videotapes
Dubbing Masters: 3 U-Matic videotapes
Reference Masters: 2 VHS videotapes
Transcript: 76 pages
2 hours, 40 minutes

Flags at half-staff at NASA – s Goddard Space Flight Center – Los Angeles Times

Flags at half-staff at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

GREENBELT – Flags were lowered to half-staff Saturday at the Goddard Space Flight Center after the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it approached its landing in Florida.

Scientists at Goddard, including a group of Israelis, coordinated some of the experiments during the shuttle’s 16-day science mission. The Israeli group is studying the effects of dust and smoke clouds in the Mediterranean to better understand climate changes.

The group included atmospheric physicist Joachim Joseph, 71, of Tel Aviv University, who gave a tiny Torah scroll to Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon to take into space.

A rabbi gave the scroll in 1944 to Joseph, then 13, at a Nazi concentration camp. Joseph read from the scroll during his bar mitzvah ceremony, which the rabbi arranged at the camp in secret. The rabbi then gave Joseph the scroll, asking him to keep it and tell people their story.

Joseph said last week that Ramon had helped him fulfill his promise. He said the astronaut asked him if he could borrow the scroll again this spring so his son could read from it during his bar mitzvah.

Alan Williams, a volunteer at Goddard’s visitor center, said the visitor center is normally closed on weekends but opened Saturday for a specially arranged visit of 120 students from Pennsylvania. The students were supposed to tour other areas of Goddard, but that part of the tour was canceled after the Columbia accident, Williams said.

Employees of the visitor center watched news coverage of the disaster on a big-screen TV in the exhibit area.

John Crum of Mitchellville stopped by with his 11-year-old son, Jonathan. Crum said the Columbia tragedy brought back memories of the explosion of the shuttle Challenger in 1986.

“The loss of life in this case is really sad,” Crum said.

One of the other astronauts, William McCool, 41 – a Navy commander from Lubbock, Texas -had graduated second in his 1983 class at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. He became an astronaut in 1996. The Columbia flight was his first spaceflight.

McCool was married with three sons, ages 22, 19 and 14. Naval Academy spokesman Bill Spann said the academy is declining requests for interviews with staff members who may have known him. The academy is referring all inquiries to NASA.

John “Sonny” Wycliffe, 61, of Greenbelt, lives nearby and came to Goddard after he heard the news. Wycliffe, who is Indian-American, said Indian immigrants followed the Columbia’s mission very closely because Indian-born Kalpana Chawla was a crew member. He said Chawla was featured in newspapers for the Indian-American community.

“Indian-Americans take great pride in her,” Wycliffe said.

Chawla emigrated to the United States from India in the 1980s and became a U.S. citizen. Wycliffe said he met her briefly several years ago at the Indian Embassy in Washington.

“I’m shocked and grieved that the whole thing has happened,” he said.

Fanbase Press – Geeky Parent Guide: Visiting NASA’s Goddard Visitor Center

Goddard space flight center visitor center

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is constantly providing the world with updates on their exploration missions and scientific endeavors, even aboard the International Space Station. Last year alone saw the final moments of Cassini as it plunged into Saturn, live coverage of the Solar Eclipse, and the Geeky Parent Guide even explored mission updates from Mars.

Well, what would you do if you wanted to get a first-hand experience of NASA? How about visit one of their visitor centers across the United States!

To give you an idea about their facilities, let’s set warp speed to maximum as we lift off and land at the Goddard Visitor Center located in Greenbelt, Maryland.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center “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.” The Space Flight Center is also responsible for operating the Hubble Telescope and the future James Webb Space Telescope and handling “communications between mission control and orbiting astronauts aboard the International Space Station.”

This extensive description is the perfect reason for families who want to find out more about the Goddard Space Flight Center, and, fortunately, the Goddard Visitor Center is nearby – and its existence demonstrates “Goddard’s innovative and exciting work in Earth science, astrophysics, heliophysics, engineering, communications, and technology development.”

Now, let’s take a look at some of the programs and exhibits available at the Goddard Visitor Center. What better way to highlight a flight center than by letting visitors launch rockets?

Model Rocket Launches

If you have any interest in building and launching a model rocket, then stop by the visitor center at 1 p.m. on the first Sunday of every month. Visitors can bring their own supplies or find the appropriate materials at the Goddard Gift Shop. There are restrictions on the class of single-engine models they allow to lift off, and weather can play a part in the status of launch days; however, Goddard provides plenty of reasons to participate or watch others blast off.

There aren’t any fees associated with attending or participating. It is also a testament to the program that it’s been a regular event held at the center since 1976, as experts help with the hands-on experience by providing a “safety briefing” and offer “rocket construction and launch tips.”

Sunday Experiment

On the third Sunday of each month, families can attend this program which is meant to provide guests with an understanding of the development and research accomplished at Goddard. “The Sunday Experiment celebrates major science missions that are managed by NASA Goddard,” along with exploring the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) field. Although registration is not required for this event, they do state, “Activities are best suited for children ages 5-10.”

The next scheduled experiment is listed for February 18, so keep track of their events page to find out what will be coming next!

This exhibit takes a look at Earth science through four different stations, encouraging and showing how anyone can dive into science. “The first station offers an overview of GLOBE,” while the remaining parts of the exhibit “focuses on different Earth ‘spheres’ and includes a description of the science, information about what you can do as a citizen scientist and how that benefits NASA science.” As a geeky parent, it’s exciting to see how NASA encourages visitors to actively be involved, knowing it can be useful. This isn’t the first time they’ve expressed interest in shared learning, as they also looked for citizen scientists during the 2017 solar eclipse.

Imagine if you could walk up to the sun, right next to it, and watch in awe as bursts of light jump from the star’s surface. The Solarium exhibit is currently at three locations, one of them being the Goddard Visitor Center, and is “an innovative new piece of video art.” The images are taken from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) which “records the solar images as a binary code.” From this code, the pictures are then deciphered through a computer, with varying colors used to see different aspects of the sun’s surface. If that’s not interesting enough, the images on display are the same ones used to study the sun by NASA scientists.

The James Webb Space Telescope

The Webb Space Telescope is being constructed at Goddard! “Learn more about this exciting mission through an interactive 3-D tour and see what you look like in infrared light.” Webb will be an extension of the Hubble Space Telescope, with advanced technology extending its reach and focusing on specific goals – searching for the first galaxies, observing the formation of stars and planetary systems, and looking to discover life in solar systems, including our own, while measuring “the physical and chemical properties of planetary systems.”

Hubble Space Telescope exhibit lets visitors discover how it’s been studying the stars and galaxies for what has now been over 25 years. To give you an idea of its range – “Hubble has the pointing accuracy of .007 arc seconds, which is like being able to shine a laser beam focused on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s head on a dime roughly 200 miles away.” For other impressive facts, like comparing its ability to see things in space to “seeing a pair of fireflies in Tokyo from your home in Maryland,” then please go online and check them out!

Neighborhood Earth shows how “NASA’s viewpoint from space” can highlight how everything is interconnected.

Science on a Sphere, “developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,” projects information onto a large sphere. Many visuals and short films are played every day, displaying “data from Goddard missions in Earth science and planetary science.”

Not only does this not cover everything available at the Goddard Visitor Center, there are also several other locations across the United States where you can visit and explore. Other NASA Visitor Centers are located in New York, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and California.

Have you visited Goddard or any NASA Visitor Center before? What was your favorite exhibit, or if you haven’t, what would you want to see first? It’s very possible you can show up and be amazed by many other things not listed in this article – Goddard even has its own Rocket Garden. Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like, and yes, a perfect photo opportunity for Instagram.

Would you like the Geeky Parent Guide to explore more from NASA, such as another visitor center or laboratory, or perhaps a day in the life of an astronaut on the International Space Station? If that’s the case, please make sure to like this page, comment in the section below, and share with all of your geeky friends.

Until next time, happy parenting and happy geeking.

Last modified on Thursday, 18 January 2018 16:53

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Employee Benefits and Perks, Glassdoor

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Benefits

Employee Benefit Reviews

Great health insurance and time off is awesome!

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Response

Obviously, as an intern you do not get any benefits other than the stipend provided for general expenses by NASA.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Response

I was an intern, I did not have any benefits. But we did get employee discounts at the visitor center and gift shop.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Response

Federal benefits are generally very generous. However, there is no specific maternity leave and one must use a combination of sick, annual, and unpaid leave for maternity leave. This is true of the whole federal government.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Response

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Response

I did not have benefits as I was just a summer intern.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Response

As an intern, I received a $200 bonus at the end of the year

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Response

Not sure, I was only an intern. I did not receive any benefits package from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. I do not believe that any interns receive a benefits package.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Response

Full government packages cannot be beat by private industry!

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Response

Best: paid sick leave, flexible work schedules

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Response

Benefits Summary

List based on reports from current and former employees. It may not be complete.

Insurance, Health & Wellness

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental Insurance
  • Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
  • Vision Insurance
  • Health Savings Account (HSA)
  • Life Insurance
  • Supplemental Life Insurance
  • Disability Insurance
  • Occupational Accident Insurance
  • Health Care On-Site
  • Mental Health Care
  • Retiree Health & Medical
  • Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance

Financial & Retirement

  • Pension Plan
  • 401K Plan
  • Retirement Plan
  • Employee Stock Purchase Plan
  • Performance Bonus
  • Stock Options
  • Equity Incentive Plan
  • Supplemental Workers’ Compensation
  • Charitable Gift Matching

Family & Parenting

  • Maternity & Paternity Leave
  • Work From Home
  • Fertility Assistance
  • Dependent Care
  • Adoption Assistance
  • Childcare
  • Reduced or Flexible Hours
  • Military Leave
  • Family Medical Leave
  • Unpaid Extended Leave

Vacation & Time Off

Perks & Discounts

  • Employee Discount
  • Free Lunch or Snacks
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Gym Membership
  • Commuter Checks & Assistance
  • Pet Friendly Workplace
  • Mobile Phone Discount
  • Company Car
  • Company Social Events
  • Travel Concierge
  • Legal Assistance

Professional Support

  • Diversity Program
  • Job Training
  • Professional Development
  • Apprenticeship Program
  • Tuition Assistance

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Goddard Space Flight Center – Greenbelt, MD, Field Trip Directory

Goddard Space Flight Center

School

Groups can learn about the exciting work in Earth science, astrophysics, heliophysics, planetary science, engineering, communication and technology development. Browse the unique, informative exhibits and learn about climate change, climb inside a Gemini capsule model, and encourage learners to dream as they pull on a kid-sized space suit.

supports classroom learning in:
Science.

topics covered:
Science, Solar System, Technology, Climate.

contact info
Name: Cate Maynard.
Phone: 301-286-8981
Email: [email protected]

TRIP INFO

About This Venue

Goddard Space Flight Center

Named for rocketry pioneer Dr. Robert H. Goddard, NASA established the Goddard Space Flight Center as its first space flight complex in 1959. The center studies Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe. Activities, exhibits, and events at NASA Goddard’s Visitor Center provide inspiring and captivating educational experiences.

contact info

HELPFUL LESSON PLAN(S)

Prepared by FieldTripDirectory.com

Science Museum Lesson Plan

There are a wide variety of science museums out there. From archaeological artifacts to galactic adventures in museum planetarium domes, there’s something for just about everyone!

Many science museums offer interactive experiences for youth groups such as labs and simulated space missions. Find a science museum with offerings that align with your curriculum goals for a field trip that’ll be worth while.

Put on those lab coats and goggles! Students step into the shoes of scientists. Gear up for an exploration of science and all it has to offer.

Scouts

Groups can learn about the exciting work in Earth science, astrophysics, heliophysics, planetary science, engineering, communication and technology development. Browse the unique, informative exhibits and learn about climate change, climb inside a Gemini capsule model, and encourage learners to dream as they pull on a kid-sized space suit.

supports scout badges in:
Science.

topics covered:
Science, Solar System, Technology, Climate.

contact info
Name: Cate Maynard.
Phone: 301-286-8981
Email: [email protected]

TRIP INFO

About This Venue

Goddard Space Flight Center

Named for rocketry pioneer Dr. Robert H. Goddard, NASA established the Goddard Space Flight Center as its first space flight complex in 1959. The center studies Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe. Activities, exhibits, and events at NASA Goddard’s Visitor Center provide inspiring and captivating educational experiences.

contact info

HELPFUL LESSON PLAN(S)

Prepared by FieldTripDirectory.com

Science Museum Lesson Plan

There are a wide variety of science museums out there. From archaeological artifacts to galactic adventures in museum planetarium domes, there’s something for just about everyone!

Many science museums offer interactive experiences for youth groups such as labs and simulated space missions. Find a science museum with offerings that align with your curriculum goals for a field trip that’ll be worth while.

Put on those lab coats and goggles! Students step into the shoes of scientists. Gear up for an exploration of science and all it has to offer.

Groups can learn about the exciting work in Earth science, astrophysics, heliophysics, planetary science, engineering, communication and technology development. Browse the unique, informative exhibits and learn about climate change, climb inside a Gemini capsule model, and encourage learners to dream as they pull on a kid-sized space suit.

topics covered:
Science, Solar System, Technology, Climate.

contact info
Name: Cate Maynard.
Phone: 301-286-8981
Email: [email protected]

TRIP INFO

About This Venue

Goddard Space Flight Center

Named for rocketry pioneer Dr. Robert H. Goddard, NASA established the Goddard Space Flight Center as its first space flight complex in 1959. The center studies Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe. Activities, exhibits, and events at NASA Goddard’s Visitor Center provide inspiring and captivating educational experiences.

contact info

HELPFUL LESSON PLAN(S)

Prepared by FieldTripDirectory.com

Science Museum Lesson Plan

There are a wide variety of science museums out there. From archaeological artifacts to galactic adventures in museum planetarium domes, there’s something for just about everyone!

Many science museums offer interactive experiences for youth groups such as labs and simulated space missions. Find a science museum with offerings that align with your curriculum goals for a field trip that’ll be worth while.

Put on those lab coats and goggles! Students step into the shoes of scientists. Gear up for an exploration of science and all it has to offer.

Homeschool

Groups can learn about the exciting work in Earth science, astrophysics, heliophysics, planetary science, engineering, communication and technology development. Browse the unique, informative exhibits and learn about climate change, climb inside a Gemini capsule model, and encourage learners to dream as they pull on a kid-sized space suit.

supports classroom learning in:
Science.

topics covered:
Science, Solar System, Technology, Climate.

contact info
Name: Cate Maynard.
Phone: 301-286-8981
Email: [email protected]

TRIP INFO

About This Venue

Goddard Space Flight Center

Named for rocketry pioneer Dr. Robert H. Goddard, NASA established the Goddard Space Flight Center as its first space flight complex in 1959. The center studies Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe. Activities, exhibits, and events at NASA Goddard’s Visitor Center provide inspiring and captivating educational experiences.

contact info

HELPFUL LESSON PLAN(S)

Prepared by FieldTripDirectory.com

Science Museum Lesson Plan

There are a wide variety of science museums out there. From archaeological artifacts to galactic adventures in museum planetarium domes, there’s something for just about everyone!

Many science museums offer interactive experiences for youth groups such as labs and simulated space missions. Find a science museum with offerings that align with your curriculum goals for a field trip that’ll be worth while.

Put on those lab coats and goggles! Students step into the shoes of scientists. Gear up for an exploration of science and all it has to offer.

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