2 Quotes & Sayings By Jack Parsons
Jack Parsons was an American rocket scientist, best known for his work on the US Army's first liquid-fuelled rocket during World War II, the V-2 rocket. He was born in Pasadena, California, the son of a writer. He attended Stanford University and went to work with Robert Goddard at his Rocket Research Laboratories in New Jersey. In 1938 he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to work on theoretical studies relating to rocket development
In 1940 he joined the US Army’s Ordnance Department at Wallops Island, Virginia, as a civilian employee. In 1943 he was transferred to White Sands, New Mexico, as chief designer of the German V-2 rocket designs under von Braun. In 1945 a team under Parsons’ supervision fired a series of rockets from White Sands that reached space and returned to earth.
The team made a number of modifications and improvements to the design and launched a second series of rockets from White Sands in 1946. The design was eventually incorporated into the Redstone missile. In 1948 he became head of research for North American Aviation at their facility in Downey, California.