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.
John Mace Grunsfeld is an American physicist and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of five Space Shuttle flights and has served as NASA Chief Scientist. His academic background includes research in high energy astrophysics,cosmic ray physics and the emerging field of exoplanet studies with specific interest in future astronomical instrumentation. After retiring from NASA in 2009,he served as the deputy director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore,Maryland. In January 2012,he returned to NASA and served as associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). Grunsfeld announced his retirement from NASA in April 2016.
The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is a laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center affiliated with the Columbia University Earth Institute. The institute is located at Columbia University in New York City. It was named after Robert H. Goddard,American engineer,professor,physicist and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket.
Orlando Figueroa,previously the NASA Mars Czar Director for Mars Exploration and the Director for the Solar System Division in the Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters and the Deputy Center Director for Science and Technology of the Goddard Space Flight Center. He has since retired in 2010 from NASA.
Kathie L. Olsen is an American neuroscientist who is noted for her work in scientific policy. Between August 2005 and January 2009,she was the Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of the National Science Foundation,a United States government agency. She was also NASA's Chief Scientist from May 24,1999 to April 2002.
Dr. Kimberly A. Weaver is an American astrophysics astronomer and professor. She has worked with NASA on several research projects. She is often seen on television programs about astronomy. She is an expert in the area of x-ray astronomy.
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.
Edward J. Weiler was the Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration until his retirement on September 30,2011.
James Lauer Green is an American physicist and retired chief scientist for NASA. He received his Ph.D. in Space Physics from the University of Iowa in 1979 and then worked at NASA until his retirement on 1 January 2022.
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.
James B. Garvin served as NASA's Chief Scientist from October 2004 to September 2005 and is known for his foundational work in NASA's Mars explorational programs.
ICESat-2,part of NASA's Earth Observing System,is a satellite mission for measuring ice sheet elevation and sea ice thickness,as well as land topography,vegetation characteristics,and clouds. ICESat-2,a follow-on to the ICESat mission,was launched on 15 September 2018 onboard Delta II as the final flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California,into a near-circular,near-polar orbit with an altitude of approximately 496 km (308 mi). It was designed to operate for three years and carry enough propellant for seven years. The satellite orbits Earth at a speed of 6.9 kilometers per second (4.3 mi/s).
Valerie L. Thomas is an American data scientist and inventor. She invented the illusion transmitter,for which she received a patent in 1980. She was responsible for developing the digital media formats that image processing systems used in the early years of NASA's Landsat program.
Noel William Hinners was an American geologist and soil chemist who is primarily remembered for his work with NASA where he worked in a variety of scientific and administrative roles from 1963 to 1989,including two years as NASA Chief Scientist. In 1977 he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.
DAVINCI is a planned mission for an orbiter and atmospheric probe to the planet Venus. Together with the separate VERITAS mission,which will also study Venus,it was selected by NASA on 2 June 2021 to be part of their Discovery Program. Its acronym is inspired by Leonardo da Vinci in honor of his scientific innovations,aerial sketches and constructions.
Lori Glaze is an American scientist and the director of NASA's Science Mission Directorate's Planetary Science Division. She was a member of the Inner Planets Panel during the most recent Planetary Science Decadal Survey,and has had a role on the Executive Committee of NASA's Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) for several years,serving as the group's Chair from 2013–2017.
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an American theoretical cosmologist and particle physicist at the University of New Hampshire. She is also an advocate of increasing diversity in science.
Amy Simon is an American planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,involved in several missions of the Solar System Exploration Program.
Nicola Justine Fox is the Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Appointed to the position in February 2023,she is therefore NASA's head of science. She previously served as the Director of NASA's Heliophysics Science Division of the Goddard Space Flight Center and in the Applied Physics Laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University. Fox was the lead scientist for the Parker Solar Probe,and served as the Science and Operations Coordinator for the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics Science Initiative.
