Jack Parsons

John Whiteside “Jack” Parsons (born Marvel Whiteside Parsons) was an American rocket engineer, chemist, inventor, and occultist.

As an avid science fiction reader, Parsons became fascinated by all things aerospace from a young age. In 1928, when he was 14, Jack and his friend Edward S. Forman started experimenting with their own rockets. Just as Parsons was reaching college age, the Great Depression struck. He attended three different institutions of higher education, Pasadena Junior College, Stanford University, and the University of Southern California, though he completed no degrees as financial hardship forced him to drop out.

Despite his lack of degrees, Parsons had an incredibly productive career in rocket science. In 1934, Jack, with Forman and Frank Malina, formed the Caltech-affiliated Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory (GALCIT) Rocket Research Group. In 1939, GALCIT was commissioned by the National Academy of Sciences to develop Jet-Assisted Take Off for the US armed forces. After America entered World War II, GALCIT founded Aerojet Engineering Corporation to develop and sell jet technology, and in 1943, GALCIT became the now-world famous Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1943, of which Parsons was a primary founder.

Parsons invented the first rocket engine to use a castable, composite rocket propellant, and pioneered the advancement of both liquid-fuel and solid-fuel rockets. He holds seven US patents, all related to rocket engines.

Jack’s personal life was every bit as interesting as his professional one, and a good deal more esoteric and salacious. In 1939, Parsons, along with his first wife, Helen Northrup, converted to Thelema, a religious movement founded by the English occultist Aleister Crowley. At Crowley’s bidding, Parsons became the leader of the California branch, known as the Agape Lodge, which he ran from his Pasadena mansion. But having a foot in both the aerospace world and in fringe occultism proved impossible to balance. The erotic rituals, libertine ethos, and stories of sex parties lent the Agape Lodge an infamous reputation in polite society. Parsons, for his part, wasn’t shy about sharing his personal life and associations with colleagues. This, combined with his mounting disregard for workplace safety — Jack and his closest peers were known as the “Suicide Squad” for their propensity to detonate uncontrolled explosions in laboratories — got Jack expelled from JPL and Aerojet in 1944.

In 1945, Parsons separated from Helen after having an affair with her sister Sara. Sara, in turn, left him for science fiction author and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and the two defrauded Parsons of his life savings. Emotionally betrayed and financially devastated, Parsons was able to file legal action to recover some of his lost funds, remarried to the artist and actress Marjorie Cameron, and found work as a consultant for Israel’s rocket program, among other odd jobs. Amid the climate of McCarthyism, however, he was accused of espionage and left unable to work in the aerospace industry.

In 1952, Parsons died at the age of 37 in a home laboratory explosion that became a national media story. The police ruled it an accident, but many associates and former collegeages suspected suicide or murder.

The FBI had a file on Parsons in which he was described as “potentially bisexual.” In fact, he was bisexual. Parsons had a reputation for chasing skirts and womanizing, however Jack also discussed his own same-sex attractions^[1], and the actor Paul Mathison said that the two once had a love affair. ^[2]

Parsons’s occult and libertarian writings were published posthumously, with Western esoteric and countercultural circles citing him as one of the most significant figures in propagating Thelema across North America.

Although his career achievements were largely overlooked during his lifetime, later historians came to recognize Parsons’ contributions to rocket science. For his aerospace innovations, his advocacy of space exploration and human spaceflight, and his role in founding JPL and Aerojet, Parsons is regarded as among the most important figures in the history of the US space program. He has been the subject of several biographies and fictionalized portrayals, including the television drama Strange Angel (2018–2019).