The setting is 1930s Los Angeles. Everybody knows that rockets are just toys, the stuff of cranks and pulp magazines. Nevertheless, a young engineering student named Frank Malina sets out to prove the doubters wrong. With the help of his friend Jack Parsons, an occult-obsessed explosives enthusiast, Malina embarks on a journey that takes him from junk yards and desert lots to the heights of the military-industrial complex. Drawing on an astonishing array of untapped sources, including FBI documents and private archives, “Fraser MacDonald Escape from Earth: A Secret History of the Space Rocket” tells of the incredible heights Malina achieved and the fear within the US government that has kept his work largely unknown until now. Join us for the untold history of rocket science with Fraser MacDonald in this edition of “Leonard Lopate at Large” on WBAI.