Also at Goddard, the delegates participated in some get-to-know-you games a surefire way to strengthen a team.

At NASA, the future is all about looking deeper into the past.

On the first day of the BSAs Report to the Nation trip, the delegates got a behind-the-scenes tour ofNASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, where astronomers are perfecting a new telescope thatll let them look back deeper into the history of the universe than ever before.

It isthe 25th year that Goddard has hosted thedelegates with NASA scientists volunteeringa Saturdayafternoon and eveningto entertain and educate some very gratefulScouts and Venturers.

The massive Goddard complex is probably best known for giving us the Hubble Space Telescope. But Hubble has nothing on the James Webb Space Telescope, which is set to launch in 2018. Astronomers at Goddard arehard at work replacing the 27-year-old Hubblewith the James Webb, which will be 100 times more powerful. (You can watch the construction progress live on NASAs Webb Cam.)

The Scouts tour guide wasRay Ohl, whose night jobis Cub Scout volunteerandday jobis optical physicist for NASA.

When meeting some of the BSAs best and brightest, he did what anyone would do. He put on his recruiting hat.

There arent that many Americans interesting in engineering, so go back to your packs and troops and tell them to become engineers, Ohl said. I wish I was your age right now, because thiswould be the exciting time to start a career at NASA.

Hannah Wheaton, a delegate from Virginia, asked Ohl about the new telescopes purpose.

The James Webb Space Telescope is going to focus on that BigBang question, Ohl said.

He explained that NASA doesnt have the technology to see what happened in that window after the Big Bang but before the creation of planets. The James Webbs ability to see in the infrared will unlock a window into those early days of theuniverse.

Ohl explained that the JamesWebbalso will further investigate the seven earth-sized planets whose discoverymadeheadlines last month.

Next, Ohl and two of his NASA colleagues showed the Scouts the clean room the largest of its kind in the world where the James Webb is being built.The clean room keeps dust and debris away from the James Webb, where even a speck could harmthe telescopessensitiveopticsand sensors.

Then the groupvisitedsome equipment used to test a payloadbefore itssent into orbit. The Scouts marveled at an acoustic testing room where behind doors a foot thick scientists blast sound waves at a payload using six-foot speakers. There was also a giant vacuum chamber, a centrifugethat can produce up to 30 Gs and a big table that just shakes everything around for a while.

It was remarkable, but myfavorite moment of the visit was when Ohl asked if anyone had any technical questions or is anyone interested in a career in engineering?

Now I am, said Gilberto, a delegate from Rhode Island.

Thats a great answer, Ohl said.

Find more coverage here, and follow me on Twitter: @bryanonscouting.

Photos by Michael Roytek and Randy Piland. See more photos here.

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At Goddard Space Flight Center, Scouts get a look at the future of NASA - Scouting Magazine (blog)