Name: ________________
Date: ___
Homer Hickam, Sputnik and October Sky
Like many other 14-year-old boys, Homer Hickam, Jr. loved rockets. When the
Soviet satellite Sputnik traveled over his home in Coalwood, West Virginia in
1957, it was a defining moment for space travel, and for Homer. However, Homer
was different from most of those other boys who were infatuated with space travel.
He grew up to become an aerospace engineer. After Sputnik, Homer was
enthralled by the whole idea of space travel. He idolized Werner von Braun, the
scientist who headed the United States space program based in Cape Canaveral.
He wanted to build rockets, and his mother, Elsie encouraged him. His father, a
mining supervisor, condemned Homer's dreams as foolishness. He thought Homer
was throwing away a lucrative career in coal mining.
Homer's first rocket blew up the garden fence. Homer didn't give up, though.
Despite his father's opposition, Homer persevered. He decided he needed to learn
about rocket science, and it was an uphill battle because of his poor math skills.
With five of his friends, he went to work.
After several explosive misfires, he and his friends taught themselves to build a
rocket that soared five miles above the coal mines. They had help, Homer says, and
they never could have done it without the support of a sympathetic science teacher,
Miss Riley. Some of the men who worked in the machine shop making parts for
miners helped, too, making parts for the rockets. Miss Riley encouraged them to
submit their rocket project in West Virginia's statewide science fair. The project
won first place. Homer headed for the national science fair, filled with hope that
his rocket and his research would win at least an honorable mention.
But someone at the fair stole the nozzle of Homer's rocket. The nozzle was crucial
to his research, and Homer, distraught, called home. He talked with his father, who
was then deeply involved in negotiations with striking coal miners. When the strike
ended that same day, his father got the machinists to quickly make a new nozzle.
The nozzle was sent to Homer overnight. Homer thinks that his father may have
conceded to the miner's demands so that he could get the machinists to construct
the part that he needed. It might have been his father's manner of telling Homer he
was proud of him, or an apology for doubting Homer's abilities.
Whatever motivations his father may have had, receiving the nozzle certainly
helped to shape the rest of Homer's life. The rocket project received the gold medal
in the 1960 National Science Fair. The science fair project propelled Homer into
college at Virginia Tech, and eventually on to NASA. Homer wonders frequently
what would have happened if he had not seen Sputnik streak over the night sky of
the grimy coal town where he spent his youth.
Homer Hickam, Jr. pursued his dreams, and the man who started out flying
miniature rockets began to send up big-time rockets. He worked for NASA
(National Aeronautics Space Administration) for seventeen years, and he has had a
long, distinguished career. Among other things, he has helped train astronauts, and
he was one of the designers of the Spacelab.
RAP:
Read the information presented. Write the main idea and supporting details in
your own words.
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