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Parsons, who was from Pasadena, California, was an engineering genius who played a central role in the invention of space rockets. He co-founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. ... Parsons didn't get to see [the Moon landing]: he blew himself up at home in an accident with rocket fuel in 1952, aged 37 (a crater on the moon is named after him). He was a great innovator; he was also an epic crank. During his early work with rockets he was taking a lot of drugs and participating in a polyamorous devil-worshipping cult. He later became a devotee of the English occultist Aleister Crowley, and a key member of Crowley’s group in the US. After the war he became close to a former naval officer called L. Ron Hubbard, with whom he took part in a series of magical rituals aimed at manifesting the goddess Babalon. (Hubbard borrowed all his money, and his wife, and ran off with both, before founding Scientology.) [1] https://www.ian-leslie.com/p/rationalist-cults-of-silicon-valley