The Rocket Man Lived the Dream

Growing up in the poor, little mining town of Coalwood, W. Va, it wasn’t hard for Homer Hickam Jr. to predict his future: After completing high school, he would go to work at the coal mine.

But even at the age of 14, Hickam dreamed of a life outside of Coalwood. So when he and his friends watched the Soviet satellite Sputnik streak across the night sky in October 1957, Hickam began to pursue his dream of building a rocket and working for NASA.

The new film “October Sky,” which opens Friday, is based on Hickam’s acclaimed memoir, “Rocket Boys,” which was recently nominated for a 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award. The sentimental drama from Universal chronicles how Hickam and his high school buddies, a.k.a. the Rocket Boys, built a fully functional rocket and ended up winning college scholarships at the National Science Fair. Hickam, who turns 56 on the same day the film opens, fulfilled his dream of becoming a NASA engineer.

“October Sky” also focuses on the relationship between young Homer and his taciturn, laconic father, who was the mine superintendent. Hickam Sr. believed his son’s aspirations were nothing more than a pipe dream.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Homer; Chris Cooper plays his father; and Laura Dern is Miss Riley, Homer’s science teacher who encouraged the Rocket Boys. Joe Johnston (“The Rocketeer”) directed.

Producer Charles Gordon fell in love with Hickam’s story as soon as he read the screen treatment. “It was about someone following their passions and their dreams and not taking ‘no’ for an answer,” says Gordon, who produced the hugely popular baseball film “Field of Dreams.”

Gordon also admired the father-son dynamics of the story. “I think it is universal seeking your father’s acceptance,” he says.

Hickam, who retired a year ago from NASA, says he and his friends didn’t think they were doing anything special when they decided to build a rocket.

“The National Science Fair wasn’t our overreaching goal at all,” Hickam says. “I only wanted to enter because Miss Riley wanted it so because she thought we would win and it would help her maybe get some materials for her science laboratory and try to get some attention to Big Creek High School.”

His mother encouraged him because she wanted her son to prove to his father that he had potential. “I was kind of a ne’er-do-well,” relates Hickam. “My dad didn’t think I would amount to a hill of beans”--especially after he and his friends blew up his mother’s fence with their first rocket blast.

“Dad was so disgusted about that,” Hickam recalls. “She said, ‘You need to show your father what you can do.’ It wasn’t scholarships or anything like that, we built our rockets because we loved building rockets. We loved the idea of learning, and Miss Riley inspired that in us.”

So did the townspeople. “They were always kind of urging us out of town because they knew the town was dying. My father didn’t believe that.”

The Rocket Boys didn’t remain close after they went to college. “We all went our separate ways,” he says. “We would share Christmas cards. But one of the neat things about this whole thing is that we boys have gotten back together again.”

In June, Hickam says, he was invited to give the commencement address at his alma mater. “All the other Rocket Boys were invited as well. We are kind of dangerous when we get back together.”

One of his friends, says Hickam, still isn’t happy that they didn’t build a rocket to go all the way into space. “He would love for us to get back together to do that. The problem is, nowadays, it would be so totally illegal to do what we did back then because we are entering restrictive airspace. Back then, we didn’t have a clue. We were probably breaking the law back then and we didn’t know it.”

Hickam served as a technical consultant on the film. “I went up there quite a bit, more than they needed me,” says Hickam. “I didn’t intrude. I tended to hover in the back with Chuck Grodon.”

He acknowledges it was strange to see actors playing himself, his family and friends. “I decided I better stop reacting to it or I was going to wear myself out,” Hickam explains. “It was just amazing. People were looking at me to see their reaction. So after a while I had to distance myself from it and approach it from a point of view that this is a movie and I have to keep all of these worlds separate.”

Hickam says his father would probably have been interested in the nuts and bolts of how the movie was made. “I think that he would be intrigued by the whole thing and wanting to know how it all works,” he says. “My dad was really a great mining engineer.”

Since his book was published in the fall, Hickam has been receiving a steady stream of letters and e-mail from kids who have been inspired by the book. “I have also gotten letters from parents who say, ‘I am going to let little Johnny and Susie read this because I think they are going to be able to see what they can do.’ ”

He also had the opportunity to talk to a lot of students during his recent book tour. “The kids are so bright and wonderful and the teachers are trying so hard, but I see a fair percentage of kids who are defeating themselves because they no longer can believe they can aspire to anything,” he says. “I believe there are so many wonderful things that can be done.”