JPL

The lab Parsons burned rockets for before it had a name. Its founders' hobbies remain a footnote NASA skips.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory grew from Caltech's rocket experiments — co-founded by Frank Malina (later hounded over communist ties) and Jack Parsons (occultist, OTO lodge master). Parsons' dual biography is fully documented (Pendle's 'Strange Angel'). The node exists because the American space program's literal founding roster includes a practicing ritual magician — the archive's favorite true sentence.