Homer Hickam's 1998 memoir Rocket Boys was a New York Times Best Seller and was the basis for the 1999 film October Sky.
22 Facts About Homer Hickam
2.
Homer Hickam was born and raised in Coalwood, West Virginia, and graduated from Big Creek High School in 1960.
3.
Homer Hickam attended Virginia Tech in 1960 and joined the school's Corps of Cadets.
4.
Homer Hickam graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering.
5.
Homer Hickam served six years in the US Army and was honorably discharged at the rank of captain in 1970.
6.
Homer Hickam 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.
7.
Homer Hickam was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Army Meritorious Unit Commendation ribbon.
8.
Homer Hickam began employment with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Marshall Space Flight Center in 1981 as an aerospace engineer.
9.
Homer Hickam's specialties included training astronauts in regard to science payloads and extra-vehicular activities.
10.
Additionally, Homer Hickam assisted at the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator 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, and the Solar Max repair mission.
11.
Homer Hickam began writing in 1969 after returning from serving in the Vietnam War.
12.
The Coalwood Way, a memoir of Homer Hickam's hometown, was published a year later by Delacorte Press and is referred to by Homer Hickam as "not a sequel but an equal".
13.
Homer Hickam published a young-adult science-fiction thriller trilogy set on the moon, known as the Helium-3 series.
14.
In 2016, Homer 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.
15.
In May 2013, Homer Hickam opposed a zero tolerance policy at Bartow High School which resulted in the expulsion of a student whose science experiment had caused a small explosion.
16.
In February 2018, Homer Hickam was appointed by Vice President Mike Pence 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.
17.
In 2018, Homer Hickam was involved in a controversy when a woman who accepted a position as an intern with NASA replied with profanities towards a comment by Homer Hickam.
18.
In 1984, Homer 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.
19.
In 2007, Homer Hickam was awarded an honorary doctorate in Literature from Marshall University.
20.
In 2010, Homer Hickam received the Audie Murphy Patriotism Award at the Spirit of America Festival.
21.
In 2013, Homer Hickam won the Clarence Cason Award from the University of Alabama for his non-fiction writing.
22.
In 2014, Homer Hickam won the Appalachian Heritage Writer's Award at Shepherd University.