The Goddard Space Center (GSC) was a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. It is located approximately 6.5 miles northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland. When GDI begun first testing it's Ion Cannon technology, in order to protect the space-based weaponry, an A-SAT defence system was established, with the hub placed at the Goddard Space Center.