About Goddard
Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is one of 10 NASA centers. It employs more than 3,250 civil servants — employees of the federal government — and thousands more “contractors” from private companies. They provide a wide range of services and expertise to support NASA’s various projects, programs, and missions.
Many of the scientists, engineers, and technologists at Goddard build spacecraft and instruments to study Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe. Other folks here concentrate on exploring and interpreting the tsunamis of data that beams down from those satellites daily.
Our namesake is Robert H. Goddard, the rocketry pioneer. He had this nutty idea that it would be possible to fly without wings! Fortunately for us, Bob Goddard was entirely correct. By 1926, he had constructed and successfully tested the first rocket using liquid fuel. He helped lay the foundation for technological triumphs like the Apollo program and the space shuttle.
And, Dawn was still on the loose, and this puzzled all of those angels that fell from perfection.
Dear People,
Is Dave Williams still head of Goddard? I think he is the same Dave Williams, who was our Project Coordinator on the Pioneer Venus Multi-Probe in the late 70′s. If so, HELLO, DAVE! We worked for Dr. John H. Hoffman at UTD, Dallas. We built a Neutral Particle Mass Spectrometer, that deployed a parachute at 25 miles altitude and analyzed Venus’ atmosphere all the way to the surface. I built several parts for the Spectrometer. I also took my metal scribe and signed my name on a couple of the parts. I legally own Venus!
I don’t think that Dave Williams is still in the same position here. But it sounds like you were involved in a pretty interesting mission! How much is Venus real estate going fore these days?