Sex and rockets and RAW

Via this blog post, I discovered Jack Parsons, a key figure in the development of the American space program who also was an occultist with a particularly keen interest in Aleister Crowley. He participated in a sex magick ritual with a red headed woman who he related to a character in the classic Jack Williamson novel, Darker Than You Think, and was friends with L. Ron Hubbard for awhile, until Hubbard turned out to be less than a loyal friend. Parsons was killed by an explosion in his home laboratory. All this took place in California. Kind of a surprise, I know, but there you go. Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons by John Carter features a long introduction by Robert Anton Wilson.