By Mary O’KEEFE

In the 1930s, Caltech professor Theodore von Kármán worked with fellow “rocketeers,” including Frank Malina, Edward Forman, Apollo M. O. Smith and Jack Parsons, experimenting on rockets in an open area in the Arroyo Seco, not far from Caltech.

According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, these men were asked by the U.S. Army to analyze the German V-2 program discovered by Allied Intelligence in 1943. Their mission was to understand, duplicate and improve upon the missiles that were beginning to bombard England in WWII. In their proposal, the Caltech group referred to their organization as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory … and JPL was born.

At first JPL was all about the military but as time went on these scientists/engineers began turning their eyes to space and soon they expanded to the U.S./Russia space race.

One of the founding members of JPL was Qian Xuesen, a Chinese national who after graduating from a Chinese university traveled to the United States and ultimately received his master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then went to the West Coast and joined von Kármán at Caltech and JPL. He received his doctorate in aeronautics and mathematics at Caltech and in 1943 became an associate professor at the school. Xuesen had become one of the foremost experts on rockets and high-speed flight theory in those early days of JPL. In fact, he has been credited as one of the rocketry group who first used the term “Jet Propulsion Laboratory.”

So, with this amazing rocketeer working at JPL and for the U.S., it is reasonable to think that government representatives would do everything in their power to value him; however, that’s not exactly what happened.

During the 1950’s “Red Scare,” the U.S. federal government accused Xuesen of being a communist sympathizer. No evidence was presented to support this accusation; however, that didn’t stop the Immigration and Naturalization Service from placing him under a deportation order. For the next five years he and his family lived under U.S. government surveillance and partial house arrest. The plan was to allow his technical knowledge to become gradually outdated, according to JPL.

For an unknown reason the government thought his technological discoveries would end, as if he would not continue to expand his knowledge in preparation of the future. Instead, they returned him to China where he became a national hero and the “father of that nation’s missiles program.” In the 1970s he began developing a space program for China that put that country’s first satellites into orbit, according to JPL.

JPL is federally funded by NASA and managed by Caltech. In February of this year, JPL laid off 530 employees. This number does not include about 40 additional members of the Lab’s contractor workforce. And after a recent press conference with NASA administrators, it appears the layoffs may continue.

It seems the appropriate time to remember Xuesen’s story, of JPLers who did not want to take away from JPL his knowledge but had no choice.

History repeating itself is a topic that was covered in an editorial by former JPLer Jeff Nosanov that was printed in nasawatch.com on Feb. 8.

The piece started with a comment from NASA Watch author Keith Cowing, who shared his surprise in some of the public comments on the website regarding the layoffs. Some are saying “No big deal” and “So what?” while others are happy for the layoffs due to “odd” political reasons; however, Nosanov covered the historic lessons apparently not learned.

“Occasionally in human history a superpower will choose to abandon a position of leadership, or yield dominance of a frontier, in favor of, or because of, internal or domestic conflict,” he stated.

Nosanov covered historical lessons from the time of the Western Roman Empire to when Denmark discovered Canada then turned away, halting exploration until France became the main power in the area. Regarding China, Nosanov pointed out that during the end of the 15th century that country “demolished thousands of its then-globally dominant ships” turning over China’s sea power to European powers.

“The mind boggles at the possible state of the world today had those ships continued their journey,” he wrote. “Yet another 500 years later, the United States of America is poised to make a similarly clear, historic and impactful mistake. Congressional budget difficulties and infighting have resulted in the layoffs of over 500 of the world’s brightest and most creative staff from one of humanity’s greatest achievements: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.”

Nosanov spoke about the importance of keeping technology within the U.S., and specifically within NASA JPL.

“JPL has produced wonders that have explored the farthest (the Voyager space probes left the solar system), dug the deepest (rovers and landers exploring the mysteries of life and the solar system underground on other planets) and lit the darkness (examined objects in space that have never – in five billion years – seen the light of the sun) of any of humanity’s pioneers. It has also employed tens of thousands of people and contributed massively to the aerospace industry of Southern California for almost a century,” he wrote.

He added that in the absence of American leadership in technology, other countries, including China, will happily take the lead.

Representatives Judy Chu and Adam Schiff are following JPL and its future. Next week how more layoffs may be in the future for the Lab.