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NASA Centers
Information
Locations
About the NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP)
Ames Research Center
From small spacecraft to supercomputers, science missions and payloads to thermal protection systems, information technology to aerospace, Ames Research Center provides products, technologies, and services that enable NASA missions and expand human knowledge. Ames' prime location in California's Silicon Valley affords outstanding opportunities for innovative partnerships with the national's technological, academic, and entrepreneurial leaders.
Dryden Flight Research Center
The Dryden Flight Research Center is NASA's primary center for atmospheric flight research and operations. NASA Dryden is critical in carrying out the agency's missions of space exploration, space operations, scientific discovery, and aeronautical research and development (R&D).
Located at Edwards, California, in the western Mojave Desert, Dryden is uniquely situated to take advantage of the excellent year-round flying weather, remote area, and visibility to test some of the nation's most exciting air vehicles.
Glenn Research Center
At NASA's Glenn Research Center, in partnership with U.S. industry, universities, and other government institutions, we develop critical systems technologies and capabilities that address national priorities. The work is focused on technological advancements in spaceflight systems development, aeropropulsion, space propulsion, power systems, nuclear systems, communications and human research. Glenn's main campus is situated on 350 acres adjacent to the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in Ohio.
Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is located within the city of Greenbelt, Maryland, approximately 6.5 miles northeast of Washington, D.C.
This NASA field center is a major U.S. laboratory for developing and operating unmanned scientific spacecraft. The Center manages many of NASA's Earth Observation, Astronomy, and Space Physics missions. GSFC includes several other properties, most significantly the Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has 19 spacecraft and six instruments arrayed across the solar system. All these missions are part of NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, designed to explore Earth and space and to send robots and humans to explore the Moon, Mars and beyond. JPL also manages NASA's Deep Space Network—an international network of antenna complexes on several continents serving as the communication gateway between distant spacecraft and the Earth-based teams that guide them. In addition to exploration missions, JPL also conducts a number of space technology demonstrations in support of national security and develops technologies for uses on Earth in fields from public safety to medicine, capitalizing on NASA's investment in space technology. JPL is located in Pasadena, California, and is managed by the California Institute of Technology.
Johnson Space Center
The Johnson Space Center, located in Houston, Texas, is the lead center for space shuttle activities and serves as the lead NASA center for the International Space Station. The Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center directs all space shuttle missions, including international space station assembly flights. The center is also home to the NASA astronaut corps and is responsible for training space explorers from the United States and our space station partner nations.
Kennedy Space Center
NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, has served as the departure gate for every American manned mission and hundreds of advanced scientific spacecraft. From the early days of Project Mercury to the space shuttle and International Space Station, from the Hubble Space Telescope to the Mars Exploration Rovers, the center enjoys a rich heritage in its vital role as NASA's processing and launch center. Researchers at the Kennedy Space Center also explore areas from weather to wildlife and materials to life sciences in support of improving life on Earth while also expanding our presence in space.
Langley Research Center
Located near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in the city of Hampton, Virginia, the Langley Research Center was the nation's first civilian aeronautics laboratory. More than half of NASA Langley's research is in aeronautics. Researchers have expanded their studies into other atmospheres, the kind spacecraft will find on distant planets. Langley leads NASA initiatives in aviation safety, quiet aircraft technology, small aircraft transportation and aerospace vehicles system technology. It supports NASA space programs with atmospheric research and technology testing and development.
Marshall Space Flight Center
The Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., is one of NASA's largest and most diversified installations. Engineers and scientists at the Marshall Center use state-of-the-art equipment and facilities to manage the key propulsion hardware and technologies of the space shuttle, develop the next generation of space transportation and propulsion systems, and oversee science and hardware development for the International Space Station.
NASA Astrobiology Institute
The NASA Astrobiology Institute is a virtual Center involving multiple organizations for studying the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. This multidisciplinary field encompasses the search for habitable environments in our Solar System and habitable planets outside our Solar System; the search for evidence of prebiotic chemistry and life on Mars and other bodies in our Solar System; laboratory and field research into the origins and early evolution of life on Earth; and studies of the potential for life to adapt to challenges on Earth and in space. The intent of NAI is to develop outstanding early career astrobiology researchers, broaden the scope of NAI research, and continue to build and integrate the astrobiology community.
Stennis Space Center
Located in Mississippi, the Stennis Space Center has two primary missions. The Engineering & Science Directorate is responsible for the safe operation of one-of-a-kind national test facilities and oversight of several rocket engine propulsion test programs like space shuttle main engine acceptance testing and Ares 1 J-2X engine testing for NASA's next generation of rockets for Lunar and Mars exploration. The Applied Research and Technology Project Office (ARTPO) provides world-class project management to support NASA's science and technology goals.