Space Sciences Laboratory

The lab has also built and flown two dozen rockets to measure "auroral particles, UV emissions, and solar flare nuclei.

The committee, chaired first by Professor Otto Struve of the Department of Astronomy and subsequently by Professor Edward Teller of the Department of Physics and the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, explored with faculty members the opportunities associated with space research as well as the impact of rapidly escalating national space exploration programs (i.e. NASA) on graduate study and research.

Starting life in a corner of the old Leuschner Observatory on the main campus, the active interest of faculty members in the space sciences led to a rapid deployment of the physical and biological research programs.

The space physics program directed by Professor Kinsey A. Anderson and involving experiments carried by balloons, rockets, and satellites quickly outgrew its quarters requiring a move off campus as well.

The growth of multiple programs represented the fulfillment of one of the laboratory's goals, namely to stimulate faculty and student participation in space research.

But the second major objective, that of developing the multidisciplinary substance and unique character of space research, could not be realized in a physically fragmented laboratory.

It was not until 1961, when James E. Webb became the Administrator of NASA, that the agency formulated a broad and far-reaching program of space research and exploration.