Rob worked Explore@NASAGoddard 2015

R2D2 and Rob

Gates opened to the public Sept. 26, 2015, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the first time in four years in celebration of Hubble's 25th anniversary. Event organizers at Goddard said some 20,000 attended today’s Explore@NASAGoddard event, an exclusive look at the center’s work.
  I worked 6 hours of the event with the DSCOVR scientists (and helped get them set up to talk to the crowds), helped out my friends Rebecca and Dee who were managing the info desk for the Earth Sciences building we were in, and took some reporters around. 
  The crowd was overwhelming at times. The tours of the Operations area where engineers control and manage satellites was packed.

Rebecca and Dee

People waited up to an hour to take the 15 minute tour. 

Star Wars Characters were there!

DSCOVR Satellite scientists

GOES Satellite table

Dann at the GOES-R Table

  Every 4 of 5 years, NASA has an open house, and the last one had about 9,000 to 11,000 people. This one had MORE than 15,000 and they kept coming. In fact, there were three metro station lots that were at capacity, and people couldn't find parking to come to NASA. Incredible.

Large bus lines!

   Here are some pictures I took during the event! - Rob 

Huge crowds around the Greenland Ice Core

MORE ABOUT THE DAY: 
    Visitors participated in more than 130 science, engineering and technology activities; heard from Goddard’s brightest minds, including Nobel laureate John Mather; and even interacted with astronauts like Hubble servicing mission veteran John Grunsfeld.

     More than 10 buildings on Goddard’s campus were opened to visitors, including tours of the spacecraft integration and test facility, where satellites are put together and tested to withstand the rigors of space.
Attendees also had a chance to see Goddard’s High Bay Clean Room. In this, the largest facility of its kind in the world, engineers are currently constructing the James Webb Space Telescope, successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Hundreds of the center’s staff were on hand to explain their work to attendees.
    "It's totally amazing," said Nancy Curran, visiting from Indianapolis, Indiana. "It's wonderful to see so many families here. The social media tent was cool because kids could wear astronaut helmets and take pictures with inflatable planets."
    "I loved getting to see the NASCOM operations center," said Aresa Harewood, of Lanham, Maryland. NASCOM (short for NASA Communications) is where Goddard monitors communications with orbiting missions. "We got to see all the numbers going across the screen and the data coming in."
     Other highlights included a look at robots used to develop new satellite servicing technology, a visualization of Earth science data gathered in the last few hours, a live production by Goddard thespians, exhibits by companies like Tesla and LEGO, and more than 15 food trucks with diverse offerings. 
Writer; Ashley Morrow, NASA Goddard
 SEE WHAT YOU MISSED!! http://www.nasa.gov/explorenasagoddard-2015