by John White:

One of my favorite movies is October Sky, based on the book Rocket Boys by Homer Hickham, Jr.  In it, the author tells how he became a space engineer for NASA. The story is about an impossible dream. The dream began when, at age fourteen, Homer looked up one night and saw Sputnik race across the October sky of West Virginia. From that moment on, Homer determined to build a rocket of his own, with the help of a few friends.

The boys had to overcome some “impossible” barriers to realize their dream, including making a workable rocket, facing adamant opposition from Homer’s father, and overcoming remarkable competition in the 1960 National Science Fair. Eventually, these barriers were removed, but at one point early on, it looked pretty grim for the Rocket Boys. One of their rockets supposedly caused a serious fire. It was missing, so they could not prove otherwise. The authorities told the boys they could no longer launch rockets. In addition, Homer’s father suffered an injury, and Homer had to work in the coal mines to support the family. Resigned to live out his days as a coal miner, Homer gave up his dream.

But, with the encouragement of a caring school teacher and by finding the missing rocket, which proved it did not start the fire, Homer began dreaming again.

(Dr. John White, 50 Day Adventure: Daring to Dream Again manual).