Homer Hadley Hickam Jr. (born February 19, 1943) is an American author, Vietnam War veteran, and a former NASA engineer who trained the first

Japanese astronauts Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspo ...

. His 1998 memoir ''

Rocket Boys ''October Sky '' is the first memoir in a series of four, by American engineer Homer Hickam, Homer Hickam Jr. originally published in 1998 as ''Rocket Boys''. Later editions were published under the title ''October Sky'' as a tie-in to the 1999 ...

'' (also published as ''October Sky'') was a ''New York Times'' Best Seller and was the basis for the 1999 film '' October Sky''. Hickam's body of written work also includes several additional best-selling memoirs and novels, including the "Josh Thurlow" historical fiction novels, his 2015 best-selling ''Carrying Albert Home: The Somewhat True Story of a Man, his Wife, and her Alligator'' and in 2021 the sequel to ''Rocket Boys'' titled ''Don't Blow Yourself Up: The Further Adventures and Travails of the Rocket Boy of October Sky.'' His books have been translated into many languages.

Early life and education

Homer H. Hickam Jr. is the second son of Homer Sr. and Elsie Gardener Hickam (née Lavender). He was born and raised in Coalwood, West Virginia, and graduated from

Big Creek High School Big Creek High School was a Grade 9 through 12 public high school located in War, West Virginia. It was operated by the McDowell County Schools and governed by the McDowell County Board of Education. Big Creek High School closed after the 2009–2 ...

in 1960. He and friends Roy Lee Cooke, Sherman Siers, Jimmy O'Dell Carroll, Billy Rose, and

Quentin Wilson ''October Sky '' is the first memoir in a series of four, by American engineer Homer Hickam Jr. originally published in 1998 as ''Rocket Boys''. Later editions were published under the title ''October Sky'' as a tie-in to the 1999 film adaptat ...

became amateur rocket builders and called themselves The Big Creek Missile Agency (BCMA). After many generations of designs, they qualified for the 1960 National Science Fair and won a gold and silver medal in the area of propulsion.

Virginia Tech and Skipper

Hickam attended Virginia Tech in 1960 and joined the school's

Corps of Cadets A corps of cadets, also called cadet corps, was originally a kind of military school for boys. Initially such schools admitted only sons of the nobility or gentry, but in time many of the schools were opened also to members of other social classes. ...

. In his junior year, he and a few classmates designed a cannon for football games and school functions. They named the cannon "Skipper" in honor of President John F. Kennedy. Skipper was cast out of brass collected from the cadets and has become an icon for Virginia Tech. Hickam graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering.

Career

Military service (1964–70)

Hickam served six years in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged at the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1970. He served in the Vietnam War in 1967 and 1968 as a first lieutenant and combat engineer with C Company, 704th Maintenance Battalion, 4th Infantry Division. He was awarded the

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

, Army Commendation Medal, and Army Meritorious Unit Commendation ribbon.

USAAMC and NASA (1971–98)

Following his separation from the service, Hickam worked as an engineer for the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command from 1971 to 1978, assigned to Huntsville. Between 1978 and 1981, he was an engineer for the 7th Army Training Command in Germany. Hickam began employment with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Marshall Space Flight Center in 1981 as an aerospace engineer. His specialties included training

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

s in regard to science payloads and extra-vehicular activities (EVA). Additionally, Hickam assisted at the

Neutral Buoyancy Simulator The Neutral Buoyancy Simulator was a neutral buoyancy pool located at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Engineers and astronauts developed hardware and practiced procedures in this tank from its completion in 1968 through it ...

as a diver where astronaut crews trained for numerous Spacelab and Space Shuttle missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope deployment, the first two Hubble repair missions,

Spacelab-J STS-47 was the 50th NASA Space Shuttle mission of the program, as well as the second mission of the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. The mission mainly involved conducting experiments in life and material sciences inside Spacelab-J, a collaborati ...

(with the first Japanese astronauts), and the Solar Max repair mission. Prior to his retirement from NASA in 1998, Hickam was the payload training manager for the International Space Station program.

Literary career

Hickam began writing in 1969 after returning from serving in the Vietnam War. His first writings were magazine stories about scuba diving and his time as a scuba instructor. Then, having dived in many of the wrecks involved, he wrote about the battle against the U-boats along the American east coast during World War II. This resulted in his first book, '' Torpedo Junction'', a military history best-seller published in 1989 by the Naval Institute Press. In 1998, Delacorte Press published Hickam's second book, ''

'', the story of his life as the son of a coal miner in Coalwood, West Virginia. ''Rocket Boys'' has since been translated into numerous languages and released as an audiobook and electronic book. Among its many honors, it was selected by '' The New York Times'' as one of its "Great Books of 1998" and was an alternate "Book-of-the-Month" selection for both the Literary Guild and the Book of the Month Club. ''Rocket Boys'' was also nominated by the National Book Critics Circle as Best Biography of 1998. In February 1999, Universal Studios released its critically acclaimed film '' October Sky'', based on ''Rocket Boys'' (The title "October Sky" is an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of "Rocket Boys"). In an interview, Hickam has said of the movie that it was "fine for what it is, a low-budget feel-good movie, but sadly missed the best parts of my memoir. Still, the world needs feel-good movies and it has done a good job of encouraging young people to go after their dreams." He has since co-written a musical play entitled ''Rocket Boys the Musical'', which, according to Homer Hickam, tells a story closer to the one in his book. Hickam's first fiction novel was ''

Back to the Moon ''Back to the Moon'' is a science fiction novel and Homer Hickam's first fictional book. Published in June 1999, Hickam wrote ''Back to the Moon'' using insider information he learned from NASA. Plot summary The prologue of the novel begins wit ...

'' (1999), which was released as a hardcover, audiobook, and eBook. It has also been translated into Chinese. To date, ''Back to the Moon'' is Hickam's only novel specifically about space. It is a techno-thriller and a romantic novel, telling the story of a team of "spacejackers" who commandeer a shuttle. ''

The Coalwood Way ''The Coalwood Way'' (2000) is the second memoir in a series of three, by Homer Hickam, Jr. ''The Coalwood Way'' is a story of the Rocket Boys and Coalwood. Homer calls it an "equal," rather than a sequel because the story happens during the sam ...

'', a memoir of Hickam's hometown, was published a year later by Delacorte Press and is referred to by Hickam as "not a sequel but an equal". His third Coalwood memoir, a true sequel, was published in October 2001. It is entitled '' Sky of Stone''. His final book about Coalwood was published in 2002, a self-help/inspirational tome entitled ''We Are Not Afraid: Strength and Courage from the Town That Inspired the #1 Bestseller and Award-Winning Movie October Sky''. After his memoir series, Hickam began his popular "Josh Thurlow" series, set during World War II. The first of the series was ''The Keeper's Son'' (2003), set on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The series continued with ''The Ambassador's Son'' (2005) and ''The Far Reaches'' (2007), both set in the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. His next novel was ''Red Helmet'' (2008), a love story set in the present-day

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

n coalfields and dedicated to "Mine Rescue Teams Everywhere." In 2010, he co-authored ''My Dream of Stars'' (2010) with Anousheh Ansari, a multi-millionaire

Iranian-American Iranian Americans are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry or who hold Iranian citizenship. Iranian Americans are among the most highly educated people in the United States. They have historically excelled in busine ...

who became the world's first female commercial astronaut. Hickam, an avid amateur paleontologist, also wrote ''The Dinosaur Hunter'', a novel set in Montana published by St. Martin's in November 2010. He also published a young-adult science-fiction thriller trilogy set on the moon, known as the Helium-3 series. It included the titles ''Crater'', ''Crescent'', and ''The Lunar Rescue Company''. In 2015, Wm Morrow/HarperCollins published his best-selling ''Carrying Albert Home: The Somewhat True Story of a Man, His Wife, and Her Alligator'', which has since been published in 17 languages and won many awards. In 2021, Hickam published his well-regarded sequel to 'Rocket Boys" titled ''Don't Blow Yourself Up: The Further Adventures and Travails of the Rocket Boy of October Sky.'' The memoir covered the 40 years after the Rocket Boys era including building the iconic cannon at Virginia Tech while a student there, his military service including time as a Lieutenant in the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam, becoming a scuba instructor, diving on ship wrecks, his recovery efforts of drowned passengers on a river boat in the Tennessee River, his early writing career, working for NASA and training the first Japanese astronauts, being on the Hubble Space Telescope repair crew training team, negotiating with the Russians for the International Space Station, exploring and suffering decompression sickness on the remote Honduran island of Guanaja, writing 'Rocket Boys' and advising the director and producer on set of the movie October Sky and his relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal and the other actors in the film. In 2016, Hickam sued Universal Studios for fraud and breach of contract over rights to his ''Rocket Boys'' sequels, including ''The Coalwood Way'', ''Sky of Stone'', ''We Are Not Afraid'', and ''Carrying Albert Home''. The lawsuit was settled in 2017 to Hickam's satisfaction. A lawsuit in federal court was initiated in 2017 for alleged copyright infringement by the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois, and its writers and composers of ''Rocket Boys the Musical'', Hickam's musical play based on his memoir ''Rocket Boys''.

Other activities

In May 2013, Hickam opposed a

zero tolerance policy A zero tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule.zero tolerance, n.' (under ''zero, n.''). The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Italy, Japan, Singapore China, Indi ...

at Bartow High School which resulted in the expulsion of a student whose science experiment had caused a small explosion. In February 2018, Hickam was appointed by Vice President

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...

to serve as a member of the Users Advisory Group of the National Space Council, which had been re-established by President Donald Trump in June 2017. In 2018, Hickam was involved in a controversy with a NASA intern who replied to one of his Twitter posts with an obscene statement.

Honors

In 1984, Hickam was presented with Alabama's Distinguished Service Award for heroism shown during a rescue effort of the crew and passengers of a sunken paddleboat in the Tennessee River. Because of this award, Hickam was honored in 1996 by the United States Olympic Committee to carry the Olympic Torch through Huntsville, Alabama, on its way to Atlanta. In 1999, the governor of West Virginia issued a proclamation in honor of Hickam for his support of his home state and his distinguished career as both an engineer and author and declared an annual "Rocket Boys Day". In 2000, the Virginia Tech junior class selected Hickam as the namesake for the Virginia Tech class of 2002 ring collection, the ''Homer Hickam Collection''. In 2007, Hickam was awarded an honorary doctorate in Literature from Marshall University. That same year, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from Virginia Tech. In 2010, Hickam received the Audie Murphy Patriotism Award at the

Spirit of America Festival The Spirit of America Festival is an outdoor Fourth of July celebration typically held over a period of two days at Point Mallard Park in Decatur, Alabama. Featuring a variety of traditional summer activities, the event is organized and staged by a ...

. In 2013, Hickam won the Clarence Cason Award from the University of Alabama for his non-fiction writing. In 2014, Hickam won the Appalachian Heritage Writer's Award at Shepherd University.

Books

''Coalwood'' series

*'' Rocket Boys: A Memoir'' () *''

'' () *'' Sky of Stone'' () *''

We Are Not Afraid ''We Are Not Afraid: The Story of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney and the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi'' is a 1989 non-fiction book by Seth Cagin and Philip Dray. It concerns the murders of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James C ...

'' () *''

Carrying Albert Home Carry or carrying may refer to: People *Carry (name) Finance * Carried interest (or carry), the share of profits in an investment fund paid to the fund manager * Carry (investment), a financial term: the carry of an asset is the gain or cost of h ...

'' () *'' Don't Blow Yourself Up'' ()

''Josh Thurlow'' series

*'' The Keeper's Son'' () *'' The Ambassador's Son'' () *'' The Far Reaches'' () *Non-fiction companion volume: ''Torpedo Junction'' ()

Others

* ''

'': A Novel () * ''

Red Helmet Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

'' () * '' Torpedo Junction'' () * ''

The Dinosaur Hunter ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' () * ''

From Rocket Boys to October Sky From may refer to: * From, a preposition * From (SQL), computing language keyword * From: (email message header), field showing the sender of an email * FromSoftware, a Japanese video game company * Full range of motion, the travel in a range of ...

'' An Amazon Kindle Single * '' Paco: The Cat Who Meowed in Space'' An Amazon Kindle Single * '' The Helium-3 Trilogy: Crater, Crescent, and The Lunar Rescue Company''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hickam, Homer Jr. 1943 births Living people People from McDowell County, West Virginia Virginia Tech alumni Novelists from West Virginia American aerospace engineers Appalachian writers NASA people Space advocates 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War Engineers from West Virginia Military personnel from West Virginia United States Army officers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers