Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Space Flight Center is a major NASA facility located in Greenbelt, Maryland, approximately 12 miles northeast of Washington, D.C. Named after American rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard, it serves as one of NASA's primary centers for Earth science research, space exploration missions, and scientific satellite development and operations.
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J. Allen Hynek's 1967 NORAD UFO Disclosure
On January 6, 1967, Dr. J. Allen Hynek — scientific adviser to Project Blue Book — participated in a discussion at Goddard Space Flight Center where he made a significant public disclosure about military UFO tracking.
Hynek revealed that NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) had been tracking UFOs since 1957 and that every single continental United States military UFO case in Project Blue Book files was designated as a NORAD case.
This statement, made at a NASA facility to an audience that included space scientists and researchers, confirmed that while Project Blue Book publicly portrayed UFO investigation as dismissive and limited, NORAD was conducting parallel, far more serious tracking and cataloging of unidentified objects using defense surveillance systems. The disclosure indicated that space-based and ground-based aerospace defense networks had been systematically monitoring UFOs for a decade, data that was never fully integrated into Project Blue Book's public findings.
Significance
Goddard Space Flight Center's role as the venue for this disclosure is notable: as a civilian NASA facility focused on space science, it provided a semi-public forum where Hynek could make statements about military UFO tracking that might not have been possible at a Defense Department venue. The disclosure there helped establish the historical record of NORAD's long-running UFO monitoring program, which has continued through systems like the Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites that detect Fast Walkers.