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.