Inspiration from our fearless leader, RCB (lightly edited)

It seems to me that we might test the waters by saying among other things, what SAL accomplished during its 40-odd year lifetime: of course the biggies: OAO, WUPPE, and HSP. But there were lots of others: first manned space astronomy observations (or at least the attempt with the X-15), a fairly active rocket program, established the techniques whereby we became one of the only non-commercial manufacturers of UV interference filters, the important technique of using synchrotron radiation from the Stoughton accelerator as a useful UV light source for calibration, the construction and operation of the first fully automatic ground observatory, and finally the development and successful flights of a reliable, inexpensive star tracker. There was other hardware: e.g., design, construction and operation of various spectrographs, that became the standards of their time. And of course, the development of the (then) sophisticated OAO operation system, and finally the bazillion of hours spent in organizing and reducing vast amounts of data, both UV and IR.

What we propose is that the people involved communicate their memories (good and bad, as desired), the most interesting aspects of their participation in these projects, the weird and wonderful people met, the anxieties and celebrations, etc. In *NO WAY* is this intended as a formal history of the lab, but rather as personal recollections giving something of the flavor of the Lab, NASA, and our interactions with the parties involved. It is not intended as a day-by-day account, but simply the high (and low) lights of the work. We were essentially the first academic group involved in stellar UV astronomy, produced most of the research in the department from the late 50s to the turn of the century, a record essentially unknown to any of the new folks at Washburn. It seems to us that it would be a great shame for all this to simply disappear.

The biggest chore on your part will be to jog your memory and decide what you want to say. Jim and I would put this together in some logical form, provide a little continuity and background, and send it back to you for your OK. We imagine this could result a short booklet.  [Editor: But first, a collection in the form of this blog.  Email contributions to SALMemoirs@gmail.com.]