Another player in the U.S. space program who is worthy of mention here is James Whiteside Parsons. During the 1940s, he was a researcher at Caltech in Pasadena, CA. He was one of the founders of JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), also in Pasadena. His field was the development of solid rocket fuel, as opposed to liquid rocket fuel that was at the center of Robert Goddard's work.
As interesting as being a former Nazi is in the case of Mr. Von Braun, is the fact that Mr. Parsons was a prominent American disciple of Aleister Crowley, the famous British occultist. Mr. Parsons' home on South Orange Grove Avenue in Pasadena doubled as a lodge of Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis. White and black magic rituals and a wide variety of sexual rituals took place there. Parsons also rented rooms in his home to those who were drawn to his world. One of the more famous renters was L. Ron Hubbard, who ran off with Parson's girlfriend in a boat purchased with Parson's money. There is a crater on the far side of the moon named the Parsons Crater, in his honor.
You couldn't make this stuff up!
F.