October Sky

“October Sky”

By Bruce Wayne

The movie “October Sky,” is the true story of Homer Hickam, a retired NASA engineer and an author. The movie takes place in 1957, in the town of Coalwood, Virginia, and the Soviet satellite, Sputnik was just launched. After he saw it cross the sky above his home the 14-year old Homer suddenly fell in love with the idea of space travel. Sadly his father, John Hickam is the local coal mine’s boss, and he expects his son to follow in his footsteps because everyone who lives in this town usually succeeds at football or mining.
Homer starts building model rockets as a hobby, even against his father’s requests. Unfortunately, his first several rockets are an embarrassment. His first model rocket blows up his mother’s white picket fence. His next rockets blow up by simply exploding on the launch pad. Others make it a few feet in the air right before blowing up.
Homer and his friends felt a sense of losing hope but their interests to rocket ...