The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately 6.5 miles (10.5 km) northeast of Washington,D.C. in Greenbelt,Maryland,United States. Established on May 1,1959 as NASA's first space flight center,GSFC employs about 10,000 civil servants and contractors. Named for American rocket propulsion pioneer Robert H. Goddard,it is one of ten major NASA field centers. GSFC is partially within the former Goddard census-designated place;it has a Greenbelt mailing address.
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense which designs,builds,launches,and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the U.S. federal government,and provides satellite intelligence to several government agencies,particularly signals intelligence (SIGINT) to the NSA,imagery intelligence (IMINT) to the NGA,and measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) to the DIA. The NRO announced in 2023 that it plans within the following decade to quadruple the number of satellites it operates and increase the number of signals and images it delivers by a factor of ten.
Charles David "Charlie" Walker is an American engineer and astronaut who flew on three Space Shuttle missions in 1984 and 1985 as a Payload Specialist for the McDonnell Douglas Corporation.
Charles Frank Bolden Jr. is a former Administrator of NASA,a retired United States Marine Corps Major General,and a former astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions.
George Michael Low was an administrator at NASA and the 14th president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Low was one of the senior NASA officials who made decisions as manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office in the Apollo program of crewed missions to the Moon.
Stephen Scot Oswald is an American former pilot and NASA astronaut.
Rex Geveden is the president and chief executive officer of BWX Technologies. Previously he was chief operating officer.
James Robert Thompson Jr.,known as J.R. Thompson,was the fifth director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center located in Huntsville,Alabama. He served as director from September 29,1986,to July 6,1989. Thompson also served as NASA's deputy director from July 6,1989,to November 8,1991.
Scott F. Large is an American intelligence officer who served as the sixteenth Director of the National Reconnaissance Office from 2007 to 2009. He previously served as the Principal Deputy Director of the National Reconnaissance Office from April to October 2007,and as the Central Intelligence Agency's Associate Deputy Director for Science and Technology.
Michael Ryschkewitsch is the former Space Exploration Sector Head at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). He formerly served as the Chief Engineer of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The Director of the National Reconnaissance Office (DNRO) of the United States is responsible to the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence for all national space and assigned airborne reconnaissance activities. The DNRO provides top-level management direction to the NRO in response to Secretary of Defense and Director of National Intelligence requirements.
Goddard Space Flight Center is NASA's first,and oldest,space center. It is named after Robert H. Goddard,the father of modern rocketry. Throughout its history,the center has managed,developed,and operated many notable missions,including the Cosmic Background Explorer,the Hubble Space Telescope,the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS),the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter,and the Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. is former Acting Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),serving from January 20,2017 until April 23,2018. Succeeding Charles Bolden,Lightfoot became the space agency's acting Associate Administrator on March 5,2012. That job became permanent on September 25,2012. He had previously served as the eleventh Director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,Alabama,from March 2009 until his promotion in March 2012. On March 12,2018 he announced his retirement from NASA effective April 30,2018.
Alexander Henry Flax was the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) from 1959 to 1961,Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Research and Development from 1963 to 1969,and the third Director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from 1965 to 1969. He was the director at a time when the second generation of imaging systems became operational and began to play a major role in United States intelligence during the Cold War. He oversaw major growth in NRO funding and personnel,the development of signals intelligence collectors from space,and the development of electro-optical imaging for US reconnaissance satellites.
W. James (Jim) Adams served as the Deputy Chief Technologist at NASA in the Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) from 2012 until retiring from NASA in 2016. NASA's OCT is responsible for direct management of NASA's space technology programs and for coordination and tracking of all technology investments across the agency.
Waleed Abdalati held the position of NASA Chief Scientist from 3 January 2011 through December 2012. Abdalati was named to this position on 13 December 2010 by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. Abdalati previously served NASA as Head of Cryospheric Sciences at Goddard Space Flight Center between January 2004 and June 2008.
Dr. Colleen Hartman is currently the Board Director for the Space Studies Board as well as the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Academies of Sciences,Engineering,and Medicine in Washington,D.C. She was the deputy center director for Science,Operations and Performance of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and most recently,was the Director of the Science and Exploration Directorate. Previously she was acting Associate Administrator of the Science Mission Directorate (SMD),Deputy AA of SMD and presidential management intern,served as a senior policy analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy,and served as deputy division director for technology at NASA Headquarters.
Donna D. Shipton is a United States Air Force lieutenant general who serves as commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. The center is responsible for total life cycle management for aircraft,engines,munitions,electronic,computer,network,cyber and agile combat support systems. The center employs more than 28,000 people and has a budget of over $300 billion. Previously she served as military deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition,Technology and Logistics.
Christopher Stephen Povak is a United States Space Force major general who serves as the deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office and commander of the Space Force Element to the National Reconnaissance Office. He previously served as the deputy director of the Space Warfighting Analysis Center.
