Goddard Space Flight Center, located in Greenbelt, Md., is the main U.S. facility for tracking and controlling unmanned
spacecraft
and for relaying data from manned
spacecraft. It is also in charge of unmanned Earth-oriented
missions and some astronomy missions. Goddard was established in 1958 shortly before the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was formed, with the intention that it would become part of the new agency. The center is named in honor of Robert H. Goddard.