Jack Parsons: The Rocket Scientist Who Tried to Summon a Goddess

Jack Parsons, a pioneering figure in American rocketry and co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, led a double life that has fascinated historians and occult enthusiasts for decades. By day, he helped develop the solid rocket fuel that would later propel spacecraft, but by night, he conducted elaborate occult rituals aimed at manifesting a divine feminine entity. Parsons was deeply involved with the Ordo Templi Orientis, a mystical order led by Aleister Crowley, and his Pasadena mansion became a hub for both scientific experimentation and esoteric ceremonies. His most famous magical undertaking was the 'Babalon Working,' a series of rituals performed with L. Ron Hubbard, who later founded Scientology. Parsons believed these rites could incarnate the Thelemic goddess Babalon in human form, a quest that blurred the lines between science, spirituality, and obsession. His story matters because it reveals the strange intersections of innovation and mysticism in mid-20th-century America, and it challenges our assumptions about the people who shaped the Space Age. Parsons died in 1952 at age 37 in a mysterious explosion, leaving behind a legacy as complex as his life.