Goddard Space Flight Center

A large NASA establishment, located at Greenbelt, Maryland, 16 kilometres (10 miles) north-east of Washington, DC. Established in 1959, its many thousands of staff are engaged in basic astronomical research and the design, development and management of near-Earth orbiting spacecraft. It is also responsible for the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, a special centre for sub-orbital flights and the NASA Balloon Program, and for the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City.