During my trip to Goddard Space Center, I was hoping to see the Goddard Space Center a little busier than it did, providing an outside view of the things a scientist does on a normal workday. I was also hoping to see the scientists' workplace during the trip too, but I was still quite satisfied with what I did see.

Some things I learned came mostly from the presentation made by a NASA executive about the JWST (James Webb Space Telescope), its objectives, things that scientists at NASA want to learn more about and how the Hubble Telescope revolutionized space observation technology.

Truly, my favorite part the field trip to Goddard was the Visitors' Center with its displays of facts about space. One display I liked was a little hands-on machine that you enter the number of stars and galaxies that you see in a box, and the machine multiplies that number by 3, 12, and then 40, showing the predicted number of galaxies in the known universe. Another one was a model of a space capsule that you could sit in with realistic controls.

I enjoyed my visit there, and I would go again if I could.

John Parrish

When we were going to see the JWST, I was excited. Before we went, I thought it would be a bigger version the Hubble Space Telescope. But this was wrong. It looked like a huge satellite. When we went, I enjoyed looking at the JWST the most. When I was there, I learned that it will fold up and then be launched. I also learned that it will tell us about other galaxies, and the galaxies in the past. Last, it will tell us about dark energy and dark matter.

Allen Mercanti

I was expecting the field trip to be fun, but now nearly as fun as it was. And I thought I would only see the telescope, but we did a lot more.

I think I enjoyed the Visitors’ Center the most. It had a lot of interesting models and experiments.

I learned a lot about the James Webb Space Telescope. I also learned the advantages of cold operating temperature for the telescope, and a lot about theories regarding the dark matter.

Overall, I had a lot of fun, and learned a lot, too!

Ryan Sawyer

The James Webb Space Telescope was a privilege to go to see. I wish I could have seen the real thing, but the model was fine. The trip was nice, and the movie was good. The Visitors’ Center was fun, and had some games for us to play. I got to sit in a model of the Apollo II, which was fun. I learned that it will be sent out to space to look for the first galaxies that were created after the Big Bang. The trip was fun, and I wish I could have stayed longer. 

Incognito 

At the trip, I learned about a new space telescope that is called the James Webb Space Telescope. It will replace the Hubble Space Telescope. Before I went on the trip, I thought I would see the real telescope in construction, but instead, I saw a model of what it will look like. I never knew that the Hubble Space Telescope had discovered more than 100 new planets. 

Daniel Morgan 

When I heard about this trip, I was so excited to see a life-size model of something that will be launched into outer space in a few years.

This trip was by far very fun. The thing I enjoyed the most about this trip was comparing the Hubble Space Telescope to the JWST, and also getting astronaut ice-cream. The Hubble Telescope is around the size of a school bus, and it is 375000 miles away from the Earth. The JWST is 6.5 meters wide, and the launching stations are only 4 m wide. So it will fold up, launch, and then unfold in its orbit.

On this trip, I learned many new things. As a matter of fact, this trip made me want to become an astronaut when I grow up. I learned that the moon was a quarter million miles away, and that is the furthest any astronaut has been. The JWST will be one million miles away, and will be in the L2, orbiting around the Sun along with the Earth.

I really enjoyed this as you can see.

Ava Manokian