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MISSION UPDATES

Originally published on: Mar 17, 2021

Raised in Coalwood, West Virginia, Homer Hickam Jr. began his love of space at an early age. Along with his friends, they named themselves the “Big Creek Missile Agency.” Yet to the town, they were known as “The Rocket Boys,” which became the title of one of Hickam’s best sellers. Although building rockets was a childhood pastime, the excitement of space exploration never left Hickam’s heart.

After going to college at Virginia Tech for an industrial engineering degree, Hickam volunteered to travel to Vietnam as an army engineer. Once his six years with the army were up, Hickam started working with the military’s Aviation and Missile department as an army civilian. It was during this time that he began to learn programming for computers. NASA hired Hickam in 1981 not for his engineering degree, but because he knew how to program computers. As an employee located in their Space Lab corporate office, Hickam automated their laboratory’s systems while learning about the lab in general.

As he started working with the astr

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Homer Hickam

American author and engineer (born 1943)

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. His 1998 memoirRocket Boys (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).^[1]^[2] He was born and raised in Coalwood, West Virginia, and graduated from Big Creek High School in 1960.^[3]^&

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Hickam, Homer 1943–

(Homer Hadley Hickam, Jr.)

PERSONAL:

Born February 19, 1943, in Coalwood, WV; son of Homer (a superintendent of a coal mine) and Elsie Hickam; married first wife, 1977 (divorced, 1986); married Linda Terry (an artist, editor, and assistant), 1998. Education: Virginia Polytechnic Institute, B.S., 1964. Hobbies and other interests: Scuba diving.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Huntsville, AL, and Virgin Islands. Agent—The Literary Group International, Stanford Bldg., 51 E. 25th St., Ste. 401, New York, NY 10010. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and aerospace engineer. Thiokol Corporation, staff member, c. 1964-71; U.S. Army Missile Command, Huntsville, AL, and Germany, engineer, 1971-81; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, aerospace engineer and training manager for astronauts, 1981-98. Military service: U.S. Army, first lieutenant in Vietnam, 1967-68; became captain; received Army Commendation Medal and Bronze Star.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Distinguished Service Award, State of Alabama, 1984; Ro