Sputnik’s Appearance Becomes Defining Moment For Coal Miner’s Son

October Sky is a heartwarming film inspired by the true story of Homer Hickam, a young man who rose from a company coal town in West Virginia, against all odds, to a career in the US space program. For the careful observer, Homer’s story as told, depicts four tiny habits of persistence,

Homer’s older brother, Jim, is a talented high school football player, who is trying to get his brother onto the school team, but Homer just isn’t built for it, and has to give up on that dream, despite suffering quite a beating and demonstrating he doesn’t give up easily.

Not long after, Sputnik, the Russian satellite bursts its way onto the scene and Homer cannot take his eyes off it orbiting its way across the sky. From that moment, he can only think about rockets and what it would take for him to get one to fly straight up into the sky.

This becomes his definite major purpose backed by a burning desire, the first of the four tiny steps. It’s not long before Homer and friends begin what turns out to be a long and challenging process of continuous action to design a functional rocket. This is the second of the tiny habits.

Homer already has two friends who are at his side every step of the way, but he realizes that he needs the help of the class geek, Quentin, in order to refine the rockets he is building. Each boy in turn makes his own particular contribution as they make progress toward the dream.

His mastermind alliance formed with a common goal of building their own rocket is taking shape and this is the third tiny habit. His science teacher, Miss Wiley, gives him a technical book to help him with the designing.

A woman, ironically, encourages Homer to follow his dream (along with his mother), while at the same time, the school principal is telling the boys to stop their designing and testing because their only future is in the coal mines. Homer also is able to enlist the help of machinists who create the crucial nozzles.

Along the way, Homer learns about the rocket scientist Werner von Braun and following in his footsteps becomes a major driving factor in his quest. Their sights are now set on entering the county science fair with their rocket project. Of course they won the local science fair and were entered in the national fair in Indiana.

The boys nearly do not get to bring their science project to the national fair because it is suspected that one of their rockets has started a serious fire, but due to lack of proper investigation and possible intent to sabotage the boys ambitions, the thing that was found was not one of their rockets, not a rocket at all but an airport flare.

This part of the film seems less than believable unless they wanted to blame the boys all along. The mine needs a fresh supply of flesh to keep it running and if all of them ran off to better lives elsewhere the mines would be finished. Turns out they were finished anyway because the coal was running out and closed down.

Another setback during this time was an accident at the mine in which his father was injured and could not work. Homer took on work at the mine to support his family and had to leave school. But they still kept working on the dream. In time his father returned to work and as it grew close to Homer was able to return to school.

Up to this point the boys have had to have their minds closed off to negative and discouraging input concerning their dream.

Despite a long process of design failures, a discouraging local culture of the mining town, his own father’s doubt in his mental abilities, and other circumstances, the boys manage to hold on to a positive mental attitude which is the fourth tiny habit.

Homer had to go alone to present the project because there wasn’t enough money for all the boys to go along. At the fair, his project is sabotaged overnight and he has to get a new nozzle from back home. But in the end, he receives an excellent response and highest marks from the judges, winning the science fair, meets Werner von Braun and is offered college scholarships.

The movie ends, but Homer Hickam’s life takes him far beyond the coal mines of WV to serving in the military, a career in the Space Program and a completely separate career as a writer, not only his own story but that of the coal mining town culture in WV and other interests.

I’m very interested in reading the book, October Sky, since significant amounts of the storyline were left out to make the movie, and also his work related more generally to the coal mining towns of West Virginia.

Homer Hickam is alive and well and still influencing the world!

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