Ultraviolet-optical space astronomy - Past, present, and future

At a conference where future directions for ultraviolet and optical astronomy from space are being considered, it is valuable to trace the historical development of our fields. Lyman Spitzer's (1946) vision of the science that could be pursued with modest-sized UV and large optical telescopes operating above the Earth's atmosphere, has in fact been achieved in the past 30 years. Along the way there have been major successes and several failures. Currently, we have extremely capable missions operating in the UV-optical wavebands above the atmosphere for pursuing our science (HST and EUVE). Soon FUSE will be operating in the far-UV as well. However, as we move into the latter parts of the next decade, the future of UV-Optical astronomy in space becomes very uncertain. We need a new scientific vision that will help to establish the directions for these fields well into the second decade of the next century. The primary charge to the participants of this conference is to help create that vision.