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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.

Makenzie Lystrup

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.

Cynthia Simmons

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.

Ray Rubilotta

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.

Christyl Johnson

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.

Dave Pierce

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

Chartered May 1, 1959, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is NASA’s first space flight complex.

Chartered May 1, 1959, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is NASA's first space flight complex.

Explorer 6, launched Aug. 7, 1959, from Cape Canaveral, was the first scientific satellite under Goddard’s project direction.

Explorer 6, launched Aug. 7, 1959, from Cape Canaveral, was the first scientific satellite under Goddard's project direction.

Instruments from Goddard have traveled to every planet in the solar system.

Instruments from Goddard have traveled to every planet in the solar system.

Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited Goddard in May 2007.

Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited Goddard in May 2007.

Fossils found in 2012 at Goddard’s Maryland campus included dinosaur and mammal tracks from 100 million years ago.

Fossils found in 2012 at Goddard’s Maryland campus included dinosaur and mammal tracks from 100 million years ago.

Learn more about NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Jason Kessler talking to a camera.

Media Resources

Staff in Goddard's Office of Communications maintain this website on behalf of the center.

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.

Goddard's Master Plan

The master plan will serve as an essential element in developing a blueprint for Goddard’s future. It will inform decisions for facility and infrastructure improvements to support staff, functions and operations for future Goddard and NASA missions.

image of yellow hexagons with streaks of blue on a back background with text and a nasa logo

Goddard Annual Reports

Highlights and accomplishments from Goddard over the years.

A graphic of the NASA "meatball" insignia, a blue circle crossed by a red V-shaped swoosh, against a black background.

FOIA Requests

Enacted in 1966, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that any person has a right, enforceable in court, to obtain access to federal agency records, except to the extent that such records (or portions of them) are protected from public disclosure by one of nine exemptions or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions.

Downloads

Director of Goddard Space Flight Center Dr. Makenzie Lystrup poses for a photo following her swearing-in ceremony Thursday, April 6, 2023, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington.

Goddard Organization Chart

Apr 26, 2024

PDF (514.23 KB)

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

Explore Goddard

A large centrifuge at Goddard Space Flight Center. The centrifuge is a light grey metal metal structure with a platform on the end that holds a piece of instrumentation.

Spacecraft Test Facilities

Goddard is home to different facilities used to test spacecraft and instrumentation in environments that simulate conditions that the spacecraft may be exposed to during launch operations and while in space.

A graphic of the NASA "meatball" insignia, a blue circle crossed by a red V-shaped swoosh, against a black background.

Chief Information Officer

The Goddard chief information officer is the chief adviser to the Goddard center director for IT strategy, planning and IT service provisioning.

A monarch butterlfy in a wild flower meadow.

Medical and Environmental

The Goddard Medical and Environmental Management Division (MEMD) (Code 250)

Vivek Dwivedi's ALD test chamber

Chief Technologist

Goddard’s Office of the Chief Technologist supports advanced technology research and development to enable NASA’s mission.

Testing of OSAM-1’s Robotic Servicing Arm

NASA’s Exploration & In-space Services (NExIS)

NExIS develops groundbreaking technologies to service spacecraft and pioneer in-space assembly and manufacturing.

Jack Sadleir looking closely at small instrumentation equipment.

Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center

The Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC) is a subdivision of Code 580 at GSFC/NASA, responsible for the creation and development of the GMSEC suite of software components.

Aerial view of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in 2010.

Sustainability

Sustainability at Goddard (Code 220)

Keep Exploring

Other Goddard Locations

Wallops Flight Facility

Goddard Institute for Space Studies

Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility

White Sands Test Facility