In the days of Hal Roach's "Our Gang" shorts ("The Little Rascals" for the TV generation), Spanky and his pals used their own ingenuity to build things they couldn't buy. For Homer H. Hickam Jr., growing up in a small West Virginia coal town, the early days of the space race inspired him and his friends to build rockets. Rocket Boys: A Memoir is the boyhood story of a NASA engineer that did more than read about the future, he set out to achieve it.
In Coalwood, the elder Hickam was the foreman of one of the better company mining towns in a state famous for its rich coal deposits. Hickam, nicknamed "Sonny," recounts how his father spent most of his time at the mine, his mother's resigned attitude, and the stagnant cycle of the lives of the miners and their families. Sonny was a typical teenager of the era, interested in having a good time and just beginning to notice girls.
On October 5, 1957, an event happened that changed Sonny's life forever; the Russian satellite Sputnik circled the planet and marked the start of the space race. Rather than rail against the threat of Communism like his father and other adults, Sonny was inspired by the feat, and saw it as a way out of Coalwood. He decided to learn how to build rockets so he could join NASA's Dr. Wernher von Braun in launching America into space.
Teaming up with a few school chums, Sonny forms the Big Creek Missile Agency (BCMA) with the encouragement of his mother. To everyone else in Coalwood and their high school, often with some derision, they become "the rocket boys." Together, they start to learn calculus, physics and engineering in order to build rockets. .
At first, the football team and the girls laugh at them, but the events set about by the space race inspire the school to increase its academic workload and decrease emphasis on sports. Suddenly, the rocket boys find themselves the center of attention. And when labor troubles and accidents at the mine threaten to tear the town apart, the dogged determination of the boys to build their rockets despite all odds and setbacks serves to give the beleaguered residents of Coalwood something to rally around.
Rocket Boys By Homer Hickman Jr. ... He was like the leader of their club Rocket Boys. ... The title of this book is Rocket Boys. It is the name of the book because the boys form a club called Rocket Boys. ... He is the one that actually was in Rocket Boys. ...
He wanted to explore space, and he wanted to build rockets. ... Pickowsky, the welder who risked losing his job in order to help the boys weld the washers to the bottom of their first rockets. ... Bowman, who was the first person to come to watch them shoot off a rocket, and he showed them what they needed for the bottom of the rocket. ... The boys had to travel 8 miles in order to get off of company property. ... Homer and the boys were arrested and we then given back to their parents. ...
Homer chooses to make the rocket with the "Rocket Boys" instead of working by himself, in order to achieve success. ... When the host says to the boys, "the first prize goes to the boys.... Each one of the Rocky Boys contributes his ability and learns a lot from other members during the process. ... During the process of making the rocket, the "Rocky Boys" become much closer to each other from cooperating. ... " She claims that the "Rocket Boys" is an entity rather than the individual member because they complete this challenge together. ...
Overall, Homer wishes for Sonny and his rocket boys friends to stop trying to launch his homemade rockets and initially embarrassing him with his failures. ... Apparently, one night Elsie Hickam had requested that Homer find a way for Sonny to test his rockets while not breaking Mr. Van Dykes order of no more rockets in Coalwood. At the next church congregation, Reverend Lanier delivered a sermon, in compliance with the mine company that paid his salary, addressing father-son relationships, most likely aiming at the outlaw rocket boys. ... He then gave the area to Sonny to use for his rocket-l...
Another influence on Homer and the rocket boys was the reaction from the people of Coalwood and how they looked upon the rocket boys" aspirations. One response to the rocket boys" rocket building is ridicule. ... The teasing finally ceases when they saw the rocket boys launch a rocket. ... Miss Riley, the teacher of the rocket boys, also has a very important impact on Homer and his fellow rocket boys. ... The police accuse the boys of starting the fire and the principal forbids the rocket boys from continuing their rocket construction. ...
This concept of breaking through into new territory is represented by the rocket. ... As the rockets fly higher and further the boys where all the while learning more about themselves and what they wanted to do with their lives. ... In contrast to the rocket is a good example of how homer acted. The rocket was a new and fresh idea. ... The rocket was the perfect counterpart to the mine. ...
Without her guidance, Homer and the "Rocket Boys" might not have entered the Science Fair. ... In October Sky, Homer and the "Rocket Boys" worked together as a team in order to complete their rocket. ... Roy Lee showed the boys where they could purchase alcohol that they needed for the rocket. ... The boys could not afford to buy the expensive metal, so they stold pieces from the railroad track. Homer encouraged the "Rocket Boys" throughout the movie. ...
Without the approval of John Hickam the boys still continue to rocket build. ... After many rocket launchings they become known as the " rocket boys". ... One day while at school, the police come and take the boys because they are believed to have set a fire in the woods by a rocket. ... If the " rocket boys" would have had a bad attitude going into the science fair I don't think they would have won. ... Just like the " rocket boys" demonstrated, anything is possible. ...
Sonny and the boys needed calculus to be able to analyze the book. ... The Rocket Boys" attempts had convinced Miss Riley that they were ready to go to the county science fair but Mr. ... Turner, the Rocket Boys got the chance to prove that they could represent the high school at McDowell County Science Fair with their project, which was named "Study of Amateur Rocketry Techniques". ... In addition to that, it was never easy for Sonny and his friends, the Rocket Boys, to get the necessities for rocket building, especially the book to be able to understand and implement the techniques of rocket...
