Jack Parsons

John Whiteside Parsons (1914–1952) was an American rocket engineer and Thelemite who helped found the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and co-founded Aerojet Engineering Corporation.

Frank Malina: An American aerospace engineer who helped establish the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and led its early rocket research. Malina collaborated with Parsons in the experimental rocket group that became JPL.
Solid-propellant rocket: A rocket that burns a solid mixture of fuel and oxidizer to produce thrust. Parsons became a leading early developer of practical solid-propellant rocket motors.
Pasadena: A city in Southern California known for its scientific institutions and aerospace history. Parsons’s early rocket experiments took place in and around Pasadena.
Thelema: A religious philosophy founded by Aleister Crowley, centered on discovering and carrying out one’s True Will. Parsons was a committed Thelemite whose religious life continued alongside his engineering career.
Edward S. Forman: An American machinist and rocket pioneer who worked with Frank Malina and Jack Parsons on early propulsion experiments. Forman’s practical machining skills complemented Parsons’s chemical and engineering work.
Ammonium perchlorate composite propellant: A solid rocket propellant made from ammonium perchlorate oxidizer held in a polymeric fuel binder. Parsons helped develop this class of castable propellant, which became central to later rocket motors.
Suicide Squad: A nickname for the Caltech rocket experimenters whose dangerous early tests attracted attention in the 1930s. The group’s hazardous experiments included Parsons and helped lead to the formation of JPL.
Agape Lodge: A California lodge of Ordo Templi Orientis that practiced Thelema under the leadership of Jack Parsons. Parsons led the lodge that anchored his Los Angeles occult community.
L. Ron Hubbard: An American writer who founded Scientology and briefly participated in Aleister Crowley’s occult movement. Hubbard joined Parsons in the 1946 Babalon Working, a ritual intended to invoke a supernatural feminine force.
Jet-Assisted Take-Off: A system of small auxiliary rocket motors that provides extra thrust during an aircraft’s takeoff. JATO motors turned the group’s experimental solid rockets into a practical aviation application.

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Theodore von KármánRelated: Parsons worked with von Kármán’s Caltech team on experimental rocket propulsion.