Jack Parsons (rocket engineer) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jack Parsons
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Parsons in 1941
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| Born |
Marvel Whiteside Parsons
October 2, 1914 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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| Died | June 17, 1952 (aged 37) Pasadena, California, U.S.
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| Cause of death | Explosion |
| Resting place | Mojave Desert |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | John Whiteside Parsons |
| Alma mater | Pasadena Junior College Stanford University University of Southern California (no degrees) |
| Occupation | Rocket engineer, scientist, businessman, occultist |
| Organization | Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Aerojet Engineering Corporation North American Aviation Hughes Aircraft Company |
| Spouse(s) | Helen Parsons-Smith (née Northrup) (1935–46; divorced) Marjorie Cameron (1946–52; his death) |
John Whiteside Parsons (born Marvel Whiteside Parsons; October 2, 1914 – June 17, 1952) was an American rocket engineer, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Associated with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Parsons was one of the principal founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. He invented the first rocket engine to use a castable, composite rocket propellant, and pioneered the advancement of both liquid-fuel and solid-fuel rockets.
Images for kids
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The young Parsons spoke for hours with Wernher von Braun in phone correspondence about rocketry.
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Parsons (dark vest) and GALCIT colleagues in the Arroyo Seco, Halloween 1936. JPL marks this experiment as its foundation.
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GALCIT Group members in the Arroyo Seco, November 1936. Left foreground to right: Rudolph Schott, Amo Smith, Frank Malina, Ed Forman, and Jack Parsons.
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Aleister Crowley (pictured in 1912), founder of Thelema, was Parsons' spiritual mentor.
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Grady McMurtry was recruited into the O.T.O. by Parsons.
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The GALCIT JATO engineering team during the solid propellant tests in January 1940. Parsons is visible cropped out on the extreme left alongside Clark Blanchard Millikan, Martin Summerfield, Theodore von Kármán, Frank Malina and pilot, Captain Homer Boushey.
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Take-off on August 12, 1941, of America's first "rocket-assisted" fixed-wing aircraft, an ERCO Ercoupe fitted with a GALCIT developed solid propellant JATO booster
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GALCIT Project Number 1 during the JATO experiments (date as above). From left to right: Fred S. Miller, Jack Parsons, Ed Forman, Frank Malina, Captain Homer Boushey, Private Kobe (first initial unknown), and Corporal R. Hamilton.
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Solid-fuel JATO unit manufactured by Aerojet at the National Air and Space Museum
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The JPL Arroyo Seco site in February 1942
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Parsons standing above a JATO canister at JPL June 1943
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Parsons befriended L. Ron Hubbard.
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Parsons worked on developing the SM-64 Navaho missile (pictured launching in 1957).
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November 1950 FBI synopsis of espionage allegations against Parsons
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Dark Angel, a painting by Marjorie Cameron portraying Parsons as the "Angel of Death"
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Parsons is credited for inventions used in rocket technology such as the Space Shuttle.
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The Parsons Moon crater
See also
In Spanish: Jack Parsons para niños
