Robert J. "Bob" Parks (April 1, 1922 – June 3, 2011) was an American aerospace engineer and pioneer in the space program who was involved into multiple NASA space missions. Parks worked for more than 40 years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/Caltech), located in Pasadena, California. He served as Guidance Engineer for Explorer 1, the first successfully launched US. He directed the initial flyby missions to the Moon (Ranger 7, 8 and 9 missions), the first soft landing on the Moon (Surveyor Lunar Lander), Earth's first successful mission to another planet (Mariner 2 to Venus) and initial missions to Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus.
