In 1952, Von Kármán hired Thomas Sean Morgan to find out about the activities of Jack Parsons, his former Aerojet co-founder. On 17 June 1952, Morgan met with Von Kármán and revealed that Parsons was planning to fly to Mexico. Von Kármán hurriedly made a phone call to Parsons, though after the call wasn't answered, he sent Morgan himself to go to Parsons' lab and warn him off.