#272: So Anyway, These Men Started Blasting Their Rockets Off

Last week NASA finally launched the Artemis spacecraft after months of delays. With the launch, we’re entering a new era in space travel with a major milestone of that era being that a woman and a person of color will set foot on the moon.

This is important to highlight because the history of aerospace research and development tends to underrepresent the contributions and discoveries made by anyone who wasn’t a white man.

Take a look at things today and, well, it’s more of the same with Musk, Bezos, and Branson sending their phallic rockets to space. There’s one thing they’re not going to take credit for though – they're not behind the genesis of jet propulsion technology.

Why? Because the spark that lit jet propulsion technology’s fuse belongs to...

*checks notes*

Three other white men.

Frank Malina, Jack Parsons, and Ed Forman were the maverick dreamers notorious for blowing shit up at CalTech in the 1930s. Modern space travel wouldn’t be possible were it not for the perseverance and willingness to take risks, along with the guidance and endorsement of Dr. Theodore von Kármán and some help from some other CalTech students like Martin Summerfield and Qian Xuesen.

Oh! And possibly the drugs, the sorcery, the wild forays into sex magick, and input from Scientology founder L. Ron. Hubbard.

L.A. Made: Blood, Sweat & Rockets covers everything related to the beginnings of rocket science and how it came together at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at CalTech where these radical thinkers became known as “The Suicide Squad”.

Remember that this was nearly 100 years ago when scientists who pursued rocketry weren’t accepted into the scientific community. Everyone was writing them off and gatekeeping their contributions to science.

Their experiments were off-the-books and their projects were partially funded by the Guggenheim Foundation. On some occasions, they collected fees from journalists who wanted to photograph their experiments.

Things took a turn with World War II looming and the Nazis diligently developing their own rocketry production. The U.S. Military took interest in the Suicide Squad’s work and started to invest in their research. Suddenly the Suicide Squad had more resources and a much higher profile. Working around the clock, they built larger and more powerful rockets that could reach altitudes of up to 10 miles and the forefront of the war effort.

L.A. Made: Blood, Sweat & Rockets is the origin story of The Suicide Squad, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the roots of modern space travel. Writer and life-long aerospace fan M.G. Lord recounts their story and reveals the shocking origins of rocket science.

Have a listen and share what you think.

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