The Jet Propulsion Laboratory took its name in 1943 in La Canada Flintridge after a few madmen set off some homemade explosives in the Arroyo Seco and managed to get a government funding contract out of it. JPL, as we call it today, is now a NASA field center containing various rooms that could melt your skin off, as well as a bunch of remote controls for our robot friend the Curiosity Rover. Usually JPL is not a place where you can walk in and poke a bunch of stuff, but this weekend it's a Jet Propulsion Laboratory Open House. There will be first-come, first-served lines for various tours around the facilities, as well as some top-level nerds to pose various conspiracy theories to. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena; Sat.-Sun., Oct. 11-12, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; free. (818) 354-1234, jpl.nasa.gov.

Sat., Oct. 11, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sun., Oct. 12, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., 2014
(Expired: 10/12/14)

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